From Rhode to New York with a passion for history!

Danny Leavy admits that relocating from the north Offaly village of Rhode to New York over three decades ago was the catalyst for his huge interest in Irish history, which has resulted in him recently being elected to the board of the American Irish Historical Society.

As well as serving on the board of the prestigious society, the Rhode man is currently writing a book on the first Catholic to hold public office in New York, Cornelius Heeney, a renowned philanthropist who spent much of his early life in Edenderry, and he is also working on a very ambitious project to record the names of all the men from Offaly who fought in the American Civil War in the 1860s.

“I suppose I always had an interest in history when I was in school and my uncle, Danny Robbins from Geashill, was very involved with the Offaly Historical Society all his life, but it was only after I moved to New York and met other Irish emigrants that I began to take more of an interest in learning about the history of Irish emigration,” says Danny Leavy.

Working on the premise that “everyone has a story to tell” the Rhode man says that listening to the stories of other emigrants – particularly the first wave of Irish emigrants to New York and the harsh conditions they endured - really whetted his appetite to learn more.

As well as his day job as a carpenter, which he did for 12 years before a recurring knee injury from his days of playing football in Rhode forced him to give up his job in the construction sector, Danny Leavy says he began conducting his own bit of research into the lives of Offaly people who emigrated to the United States.

When he came into contact with renowned Edenderry historian, Dr Ciaran Reilly, the two decided to research the life of Cornelius Heeney and are working closely together on writing a book on the life of one of the most fascinating emigrants of all. So fascinating was his life that the iconic St. Patrick's Cathedral on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan is actually built on a portion of land that he sold to Catholic Archdiocese of New York!

Danny is also working on a project to record the names of all the Offaly men who fought in the American Civil War, and would love to hear from anyone who can help him at: leavydanny9@gmail.com He is working on this project in conjunction with a close friend from his school days, Edenderry man Kevin Guing.

“The Civil War project is ongoing and we would be hoping that it might result in a book eventually,” says Danny. “Of the over 400 men we have on our list so far, we only know the details of about 200 of them, so we are trying to fill in the gaps and find out where everyone came from and what their back story is, though we know that many of the men who fought were famine emigrants.”

Having been “unofficially involved” with the American Irish Historical Society over his years in New York, Danny Leavy admits that he was “a bit taken aback” when he was approached and asked if he would like to put his name forward to serve on the board which oversees the society. “I felt that maybe I would be punching a bit above my weight,” he laughs, “but I was elected anyway and I was delighted and honoured.”

Having endured a turbulent period in recent years, during which it was closed to the public and the iconic building was put up for sale, the American Irish Historical Society is now in a resurgent phase under the new board who are planning to open it to the public again and make the vast archive of historical records more accessible.

In fact, the Leavy family lives close to the American Irish Historical Society building as Danny currently manages an apartment block for the 740 Corporation on Park Avenue and 71st St on New York's prestigious Upper East Side in the heart of Manhattan, and the family lives in the same building.

Coming from the “heart of the Offaly bog” Danny Leavy jokes “sometimes I have to pinch myself when I walk out of my apartment and realise I am in the middle of New York, and there are times when I wish I was back in Rhode, but all joking aside, we are well settled here at this stage.”

Nevertheless, Danny admits that his children, Isabella (16), Daniel (13) and eleven-year old Maggie May “absolutely love Ireland” and he returns to his native Clonmeen as often as possible to keep in touch with family. As the youngest of a family of seven, there are “lots of relations” in Offaly on both sides of his family as his wife, Anne (Glennon) is also from Rhode.

The Leavy family plans to return to Rhode in May of this year for a very special celebration as Danny's mother, Mary (née Robbins) who is a resident of Ofalia House in Edenderry, will celebrate her 90th birthday, and the extended family are planning “a big party”.

Danny and Ann emigrated to New York in 1993, at a time when he says there “weren't many job opportunities” in Ireland, and they quickly settled in the North Bronx, in the tight-knit Irish emigrant community of Yonkers where they spent 12 happy years before moving into Manhattan. Danny's brother, Pat, arrived over three years later, and has also settled in New York, while the remainder of their siblings, Tom, Brendan, Ger, Teresa and Mary live in Ireland. Their father, Paudge, passed away in November 2019.

“We moved to New York before the era of the Celtic Tiger and it was relatively easy to get a visa, so we initially got visas under the Donnelly Morrison Visa Programme and then we got citizenship over 20 years ago.”

Despite the fact that he has a very busy life in New York, Danny Leavy says he is planning to keep up his historical research and writing and admits that it is “a big passion” at this stage. “Every day I do some research turns up something fascinating, so it is both a great passion and a lovely hobby,” he concludes.