Ruby was born in San Antonio, Texas in the early 1900s. She frequently lied about her age through the years. Ruby's age is 8 on the 1910 Census, 16 on the 1920 Census, 31 on the 1930 Census and 35 on the 1940 Census. Her Social Security application has her year of birth as 1904/1909. I presume her real birth year to be 1902 which aligns with the 1910 Census. Ruby's father, Thomas McKinney, died of stomach cancer when she was was 9 years old. Family legend is that her grandmother, Victoria Taylor, raised her until she died at which point Ruby lived in an orphanage. Ruby is listed as a student of the Harris County School for Girls on the 1920 Census in Galveston, Texas. She married her first husband, Claude Witt, on January 5, 1921 and her first daughter, Lorayne, was born seven months later in August. Ruby had a second daughter named Majorie before divorcing Witt and moving to Chicago. There she married Frank Bouzek and had two childen, Thomas and Judith.