It was a rarity for local Native Americans to have a professional photographer take their portrait in the late 1800s. This was case of Mattie Jackson, a Maidu. She was born circa 1878 in Susanville, the daughter of Sam Jackson and Chief Daughter. A number of local Maidu and Paiute women worked as domestic for their Anglo counterparts. Her employer, might have been instrumental is having this professional photograph taken.
In 1900 Mattie married Pete Ives. who he was of mixed race, his father was Anglo and his mother Native American. They had one child, Douglas.
The Ives family spent their life between Janesville and Willow Creek Valley. Mattie died at Willow Creek on September 2, 1932 and is buried at the Indian Cemetery near the Jackson family home in Willow Creek Valley.