Ellis Island: The Isle of Hope
On the first day of January Eighteen Ninety-Two
They opened Ellis Island and they let the people through.
And the first to cross the threshold
Of the Isle of Hope and Tears
Was Annie Moore from Ireland
Who was all of fifteen years.1
On January 1, 1892, America welcomed the first immigrant to our country through Ellis Island. Her name was Annie Moore.
The New York Tribune documented the moment when a “rosy-cheeked Irish girl . . . walked through the large double doors of the new federal immigration depot . . . with two younger brothers by her side.”2 They had traveled on the SS Nevada on a “12-day journey from Queenstown, Ireland,” to unite with their parents, who had come four years earlier.3
Like so many other immigrants, Annie Moore became part of the patchwork quilt that makes up the America we know and love. More than any other entry point to the United States, the Isle of Hope welcomed the most. Forty percent of Americans today can trace their heritage through Ellis Island. From Annie’s entry in 1892 to the last immigrant who entered in 1954, more than 12 million immigrants made entry into the United States through the New York harbor.4
Annie’s Story Is Our Story
Annie Moore’s reason for coming to America was typical. Something in the Old World — “war, drought, famine, . . . religious persecution,”5 or poverty — made the difficult voyage and long lines for medical and legal examinations worth the opportunity for a better life.
Carving out a new life in America was arduous for the first and second generation of immigrants.
After arriving, Annie settled in New York’s Lower East Side and is believed never to have left. Researchers discovered that “she married Joseph Augustus Schayer, the son of a German baker.”6 They “lived in a Lower East Side tenement and probably ventured no further west than Broadway.”7
Annie’s story was similar to that of many other immigrants in the early 20th century: It was difficult and “often sad,” as “she buried six of her 11 children before the age of three, moved from apartment to apartment, and died at 99 Cherry St.”8 Annie died from heart failure when she was just 50 years old. All the deaths in her family traced back to poverty.9 She was buried in an unmarked grave.10
But the story doesn’t end there — not for Annie Moore’s descendants and certainly not for so many others. The Moore family became “typically American. Within just a couple of generations, they climbed the socioeconomic ladder,” many of them marrying “with all sorts of different backgrounds.”11
And “that . . . is part of the magic. Annie’s story is our story.”12 Like many immigrants, Annie Moore spent her life striving “to make life better for each generation.”13
The Isle of Hope
Ellis Island became known as the Isle of Hope for 12 million immigrants from 1892 to 1954.14 They came to America in droves at the beginning of the 20th century for the opportunity to have a better life. They worked as miners and steel workers, contractors and carpenters, electricians and plumbers. They became writers and doctors and teachers and ministers — all in their quest to make something of themselves and to give their heirs hope.
Some of them became household names:
German physicist Albert Einstein gave the world the theory of special relativity.15
Polish cosmetician Max Factor invented pancake makeup for the film industry and launched an international makeup corporation that bears his name.16
English performer Bob Hope traveled “the world with the USO, entertaining troops from the combat zones of World War II to the dusty fields of Operation Desert Storm.”17
Norwegian Knute Rockne coached football at the University of Notre Dame and gave the famous speech “Win One for the Gipper.”18
Russian composer Irving Berlin wrote “White Christmas” and “God Bless America.”19
Italian film director Frank Capra gave us classic movies like Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and It’s a Wonderful Life.20
These famous names are a sampling of the 12 million German, Norwegian, Russian, Polish, Italian, Slovakian, Greek . . . and “rosy-cheeked Irish” immigrants like Annie Moore — who entered our nation by way of the Isle of Hope.
Our Past Informs Our Future
Generations of immigrants hungered for a new and wonderful life when they came to America. They traveled light, carrying a suitcase stuffed with their essential belongings. At the same time, they traveled heavy, bringing their skills, their experience, and their willingness to contribute to America so succeeding generations would prosper in the land of opportunity.
Their contributions are sown into the patchwork quilt of our nation described by the de facto motto of America from our founding until 1956: E Pluribus Unum, which means “Out of many, one.”21
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1 Brendan Graham, “Isle of Hope, Isle of Tears,” Donal O’Shaughnessy Irish Songs, accessed May 4, 2026, https://www.irishsongs.com/lyrics.php?Action=view&Song_id=434.
2 Catherine E. Shoichet, “Her Name Is on a Pub, a Boat and an AI Platform. But What Happened to the Irish Teen Who Arrived at Ellis Island in 1892?,” CNN, updated March 17, 2023, https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/17/us/irish-history-ellis-island-annie-moore-cec/index.html?ref=untappedcities.com.
3 Shoichet, “Her Name Is on a Pub.”
4 “History & Culture,” Ellis Island, National Park Service, last updated February 3, 2025, https://www.nps.gov/elis/learn/historyculture/index.htm.
5 “Ellis Island,” History.com, last updated February 13, 2026, https://www.history.com/articles/ellis-island#U.S.-Immigration-History.
6 Shoichet, “Her Name Is on a Pub.”
7 John Mooney, “All the Moores,” The Irish Examiner, October 8, 2008, https://www.irishexaminerusa.com/mt/2008/10/08/all_the_moores.html.
8 Mooney, “All the Moores.”
9 Shoichet, “Her Name Is on a Pub.”
10 Mooney, “All the Moores.”
11 Shoichet, “Her Name Is on a Pub.”
12 Shoichet, “Her Name Is on a Pub.”
13 Mooney, “All the Moores.”
14 History.com, “Ellis Island.”
15 “10 Most Important Contributions of Albert Einstein,” Science News Today, October 7, 2025, https://www.sciencenewstoday.org/10-most-important-contributions-of-albert-einstein.
16 “Notable Immigrants A–F,” Ellis Island, National Park Service, last updated October 19, 2021, https://www.nps.gov/elis/learn/historyculture/notable-immigrants-a-f.htm#CP_JUMP_4009432.
17 “Notable Immigrants G–L,” Ellis Island, National Park Service, last updated October 19, 2021, https://www.nps.gov/elis/learn/historyculture/notable-immigrants-g-l.htm#CP_JUMP_4007085.
18 “Notable Immigrants M–Z,” Ellis Island, National Park Service, last updated October 19, 2021, https://www.nps.gov/elis/learn/historyculture/notable-immigrants-m-z.htm#CP_JUMP_4007108.
19 “Notable Immigrants A–F.”
20 “Notable Immigrants A–F.”
21 “E Pluribus Unum Meaning, History, and Legal Status,” LegalClarity, April 1, 2026, https://legalclarity.org/meaning-and-historical-significance-of-e-pluribus-unum/.