Hugh Michael Mooney was born to Michael and Eliza Mooney on July 31, 1864, in Murphys, California. He came to Visalia with his parents in 1869 and lived for many years at the family home in a lush oak forest, where he loved to hunt and enjoyed the beauty of the valley oak trees. In 1909, after the death of his parents, Hugh and his four sisters, Mary Elizabeth, Mary Xavier, Teresa, and Anna, sold the family home site and surrounding acres to the County of Tulare for $15,000. That land became Mooney Grove Park. When Hugh died on October 12, 1934, he left $5,000 in his will to the county for park improvement, and his generosity helped complete the first phase of the Tulare County Museum building in 1948.