James Warren Mooney was born in Grass Valley, California on January 3, 1944. His mother was Ruth Aleta Bennett and his father Rex Warren Mooney

 

 Seminole tribal Chief, Chief Little Dove, hired Pat Smith, the most noted volunteer genealogist of Eastern Indian Tribes to search out James’ genealogy to determine his bloodlines.

 

 When Chief Little Dove realized who James’ grandparents were, she knew she had found the person she was looking for.

 

 Chief Little Dove was seeking James because she was trying to get her Indian tribe recognized by the Federal Government. She was seeking out people who had Seminole blood from their reservation in Florida.

 

 Chief Little Dove told James that he had ½ to 3/4 Native American blood flowing through his veins. The “exact” quantum of his blood cannot be proven through genealogical records, nor can it be disapproved. The important element here is that his tribal chief said it was so.

 

 His father, Rex Mooney, was born in Washburn, Missouri in 1921. He is the son of James Henry. Mooney and Mary Ella Pease. James and Mary Mooney were both born in Indian Territory, Missouri and were known to have Southeastern Cherokee and Creek bloodlines.

 

Mary Ella Pease Mooney’s father, James A. Pease was from Connecticut, and was Choctaw. Her mother, Janetta Catron was Cherokee.

 

 James H. Mooney’s father came from Galway, Ireland; however it is understood that Timothy was not his actual father. It was rumored and later substantiated that his father was the famed ethnologist, James Mooney.

 

  His mother, Elizabeth Copinger, was from Indian Territory, and Chief Little Dove told James that she was a granddaughter of the great Seminole leader, Osceola, and was Creek.

 

 'Flaming Eagle's’ mother, Ruth Aleta Bennett, was born in Cassville, Missouri. Her father was Harve Edward Bennett and her mother was Bernice Carolyn Gravitt. Harve Bennett was born near Soldier, Kansas in 1901. His mother, Bernice Gravitt, was born in Creston, Iowa in 1904. Ruth taught James that she had Cherokee blood in her, although the exact lineage, at this particular time, cannot be determined.