Narrative assignment on Annie Moore
By: Taylor Krech and Madeline Butcher
Annie Moore's Diary entries
December 1891
My parents and my older brother had left Ireland two years ago to go to America. I recently received letters from my parents that said now was the time for me and my two little brothers to make the journey over to America. In the letters, they told me how they now have an apartment in Manhattan at 32 monroe street, jobs and enough food to support our entire family. They also attend a Catholic Church3.is made me very happy that they found somewhere to worship freely, considering this was one of the reasons they left Ireland. My parents told me to only bring the most important things, so I took their advice and brought only our family bible and the clothes on my back. I miss my parents and my older brother more than anything, but I know that they needed money to support us, and America was their only opportunity.
December 21, 1891
I boarded the SS Nevada, at 14 years old, with my two younger brothers. Phillip, who is seven years old, and Anthony, who is eleven years old. As I sit here on the ship I feel as if I am suffocating. My brothers and I have to ride in steerage class, which means that there are a lot of people jam packed into one room. As I look around I can see that many of the passengers brought only their valuables such as bibles, fine china, and suitcases, if they were wealthy. If they were poor, the only thing that they took with them were the clothes that they were wearing. The ship is starting to leave the docks and I can’t stop thinking about how much I am going to miss my home, Cork County, Ireland. Will I ever get to see the beautiful green valleys again?
December 24, 1891
It has only been a couple days since we left Ireland and it has already been a long and hard journey. My brother and I, along with many other passengers, have never had to endure the life on a ship before, which is making this much more difficult. It is very cold in the steerage class and we barely receive any food. I have only seen the deck of the ship one time over the past few days. There are rumors that we will only see it a couple more times before we arrive at Ellis Island. Many of the people are suffering from seasickness and other diseases that are going around. None of this matters to my brothers and I; we just want to be reunited with our family. The anticipation of seeing the other half of my family is unbearable, but the other passengers have been keeping us company. They tell my brothers and I stories of their homelands and why they are going to America. I have learned that many of the passengers were in need of employment and a home for their family. Some just need a place to start over. Everyone is saying how America is a world full of new opportunities. I hope they are right.
December 31, 1891
The passengers are buzzing with good news. Apparently we will arrive in America by tomorrow. I don’t know if I will be able to sleep because I am so anxious. What if my parents don’t recognize us? What if they don’t love us the same? There is no going back now.
January 1, 1892
The people on the ship are growing louder and louder with excitement as we approach the docks at our new homeland. As soon as the people start to line up, I thrust my way through the crowd to the front of the line, along with my little brothers. We get off as a man advances towards me and then hands me something. As I take a closer look I can see what the man has given me. It is a ten dollar gold coin. I have never had so much money in my life. I was so confused to why a complete stranger would give me ten dollars. The man then went on by explaining to me that the coin is a gift because I am the first immigrant to arrive in America through Ellis Island. Even though ten dollars is a lot of money, I am not going to spend it, just savor it. To me this token represents all that I have been through with Phillip and Anthony.
As I look up, I see my family waiting for my brothers and I. I can’t help but run to them with my arms wide open and tears of joy streaming down my face. We are all together as a family once again after two years of being apart. This coin will always be a constant reminder of this special moment I’m sharing with my family. As I look down at the coin again before I put it away, I realize that today is my 15th birthday, January 1st, 1892. I couldn't have asked for a better gift because I had already gotten it. The gift of being reunited with my family once again.
January 5th, 1892
My whole family and I are officially moved into our new tenement, which is located on the lower eastern part of New York City. My parents filled me in about what their life has been like over the past two years of living in America. They also told me about how they recently lived in Chinatown, New York, but moved to the eastern part of the city to make more room for our whole family to be together. Our new life in the U.S. is way better than what life was like for us in Ireland, but it still is not the ideal life. There are many things that are going to take some getting used to. For example, the streets of New York are piled with detritus from the families living in tenements. This left the city not only looking squalid, but an unhealthy environment. Our tenement is crowded with two rooms, a kitchen and one bedroom. There is one public outhouse per twenty people, which is very unsanitary. There is a lack of running water, which creates personal hygiene issues and makes it difficult for us to bathe and wash our clothes. This makes it easier for diseases to be spread such as cholera, typhoid, smallpox, and tuberculosis.
March 27, 1892
Drudgery tasks in America includes factory work, sewing clothing, or rolling cigars for women and children and building skyscrapers for men. My mother works at home sewing clothing, my younger brother and I work in factories, and my older brother and father build skyscrapers for a living. I don’t really like my job, but it’s what I have to do to help support my family. Although I don’t like my job, I have been able to meet so many different people. There are people of all sorts of different ethnics here in America that I would have never even met if I hadn’t of come here. Even though I met some of my best friends while working in the factory, I would rather be the President, Grover Cleveland, who is a well-known, popular man in America. It seems like his life is pretty easy, which is what I want for my family and I.
July 14, 1896
As I get older, I have less free time to write in my diary. There are more responsibilities for me to take on such as house work. I have to wash dishes, do the laundry, and make the meals with my mother, while the men in the family do all of the handiwork. With more responsibilities comes less time for fun. My siblings and I used to have races up and down the streets almost everyday. Now we only race home from work every once in a while. It saddens me to know how grown up we are becoming because it seems like all we do is work.
August 12, 1910
Upon my arrival to America, I have learned so much about what life is like and the people here. I now know my place in the world and what my roles are, but I am still learning. Today my father was telling my younger brothers and I about how there are many people, mainly the government, who do not react very well to us, the immigrants. I was informed about many different acts that have been made against us. There are acts such as “The Anarchist Exclusion Act” of 1901, which allows the government to exclude immigrants because of their political beliefs. The “Expatriation Act” of 1907 threatens women who marry a foreign citizen by taking away their citizenship. Although these acts are made against my people, I do remember some of the Americans to be somewhat kind to me, including the man who endowed me with a ten dollar gold coin.
Vocab words
Vocab words:
1. steerage class- Third class area of the ship. This area was normally under the deck and there was very litte space.
2. “The Anarchist Exclusion Act” - Allowed the government to exclude immigrants because of their political beliefs.
3. tuberculosis- Infectious disease that can affect any tissue in your body, especially the lungs.
4. cholera- A disease that is characterized by profuse diarrhea, vomiting and cramps.
5. tenement- a run-down and often overcrowded apartment house, especially in a a poor part of a large city.
6. detritus- Waste or debris of any kind.
7. endowed - To give a gift to someone.
8. drudergy- Hard work/labor.
9. advances- To approach someone or something
10. squalid- Extremely dirty and unpleasantPolitical Cartoon
Author's note
We picked to write about Annie Moore because her story caught our attention. It was very extraordinary how Annie (at 14 years old) could take care of her little brothers for 2 years without parents. Not only did she take care of them, but she was able to get them to America successfully. It was a story where we could put ourselves in Annie’s shoes because she is about our age and we both have a younger brother. It made me think about how lucky I am that I have a family to take care of me, instead of a family to take care of. Her story also had a lot of raw emotion. While researching her, you could only imagine how she felt being so young, with so many responsibilities.