First documented film director of Native American ancestry.
His ancestry is of the Nanticoke people of Delaware.
He enlisted as James Y. Johnson in the U.S. Navy, 1898-1901, as a landsman during the Spanish-American War and is buried in the Long Island National Cemetery in New York (USA).
Was Head of Production for Pathe Freres West Coast Studio in Edendale, Calif., from approx 1911-1914.