Ruby L. Baker came west with her parents in 1853, and settled near Irving, Oregon.

She married John B. Rhea on 21 Dec 1870 in Lane County, Oregon. They had four children: Dora Belle, Charlotte Maude "Lottie, Olive Elmina "Ollie" and Robert Rhea. John Rhea died in 1879.

Ruby Rhea was remarried to Matthew Smith Cleek, Jr. on 11 May 1880 in Lane County. They had one daughter, Mable.

Ruby was accidentally shot in the leg by her foster son. The doctor amputated the leg on the kitchen table of their home. The loss of her leg never slowed her down.
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The Junction City Times (Junction City, OR)
Saturday, December 19, 1891


Lee and Davis Cleek received their shot gun Saturday which had been undergoing repairs. They were trying it in the house to see if it would work. It worked and with the usual terrible results of the careless handling of guns whether loaded or not. While handling it, the hammer slipped, and Mrs. Cleek received the contents in her leg between the ankle and knee, shattering the bones to slivers. She was only about six feet from the muzzle of the gun and its whole contents were emptied into her leg. When a physician was sent for and after making an examination, it was found that amputation was necessary, and the left was taken off just below the knee. She was greatly weakened from loss of blood, but from last accounts she was getting along real well. The Cleeks lives near Irving.
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The Eugene Daily Guard,
Eugene, Lane County, Oregon
Feb. 9, 1910, p 1:

MRS. CLEEK, PIONEER, DIES AT COBURG
Passed Away Yesterday From Heart Trouble - Came Across Plains in 50s

Mrs. M. S. Cleek, one of Lane county's pioneers, died suddenly at her home in Coburg yesterday at 1:30 p.m., as a result of heart failure. Before her marriage to M. S. Cleek she was Ruby Baker. She had lived in Coburg for eleven years, and before that lived near Junction City for many years. She crossed the plains when but a child in the latter 50s, and the family moved almost at once to this county.

The funeral will be held Friday at 2 o'clock. Interment will take place in the Masonic cemetery.