[3] Born into a family of teachers,[2] he attended Vanderbilt University from undergrad through his Ph.D.[3] During the window between 1939 and 1945, he worked for a time alongside Harriett Owsley and Blanche Henry Clark on what were known as the Owsley charts, "a composite of Schedules I (land ownership), H (slave ownership), and IV (products of agriculture) of the unpublished Federal Census for Tennessee, 1850 and 1860.

"[4] Mooney served in the U.S. Army during World War II, working as a senior historian.

[3] Mooney's posthumously published biography of William H. Crawford was described as "more than just another rehash of a life...It is consummately a biography of one of Georgia's great men...it is a fine example of historiography brilliantly and sparsely written.

Third, it is a source work about a little-known man caught up in commonly known times and places.

"[7] A native of Tennessee,[5] Mooney taught at Indiana University for most of his career.