The Cobh Emigrant Memorial
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Queenstown [Cobh]
the single most important port of emigration, will be forever remembered for the
2.5 million emigrants who left Ireland many departing through the Sea Terminal,
constructed in the 1860s, which has now been restored as The Queenstown
Story Heritage Centre.
Annie Moore became the first ever emigrant to be processed in Ellis Island when
it officially opened on 1st January 1892. Annie and her brothers sailed from
Queenstown on the SS Nevada on the 20th December and arrived after 12 days of
travelling in steerage. The statue outside Cobh Heritage Centre was unveiled by
President Mary Robinson on the 9th February 1993. A similar statue of Annie can
be found in Ellis Island New York which represents not only the honour of her
being the first emigrant to pass through Ellis Island but also stands as a
symbol of the many Irish who have embarked on that very same journey.
My Great Grand-Father and Great-Grandmother, John & Mary McCarthy with their children, departed Queenstown [Cobh] in early January 1889 as emigrants to Argentina on the City of Dresden arriving in Buenos Aires on the 15th of February 1889.
