On September 29, 1929 Old Lucy a colorful character on the streets of Susanville passed away, purportedly at the age of 125. While she best known as Old Lucy, she also had another Anglo name, Sally Norman. Dubbed a “picturesque” Native American of the era, she was a familiar sight as she ambled about Susanville, bundled up in numerous clothes, walking with the aid of a stick. People who knew her back in the 1870s considered her old back then. While her age was exaggerated when she died, documents placed her age at around 100.
My father remembers seeing Maidu/Piute women shopping in the grocery stores in Susanville when he was a boy (1920’s) and leaning their infants’ cradleboards against the wall somewhere in the market while they shopped…Like the English mothers I saw leaving their infants in their prams outside markets, etc. while they shopped. Dad said he never heard even a whimper from those little native babies.