Barbara Heck

BARBARA (Heck), Born 1734 in Ballingrane, Republic of Ireland. She is the child of Bastian (Sebastian) Ruckle and Margery Embury. Bastian Ruckle as well as Margaret Embury had a daughter called Barbara (Heck) born 1734. In 1760 she married Paul Heck and together they raised seven kids. Four of them lived to adulthood.

In most cases, the subject has participated in significant events, and shared unique ideas or thoughts which are documented on paper. Barbara Heck has left no notes or correspondence. Her date of marriage as an example is not supported by any evidence. There are no surviving primary sources from which one can trace her motivations and her conduct throughout the course of her life. However, she has become an iconic figure in the early years of North American Methodism history. The job of a biographer is to explain and account for the myth as well as describe if possible the real person who lies within it.

Abel Stevens was a Methodist scholar, who published his work in 1866. Barbara Heck's humble name now ranks first on the listing of women who have contributed significantly to ecclesiastical life in New World history. This was because of the rise of Methodism in the United States. This is because the record of Barbara Heck has to be primarily based on her contribution to the greater cause to which her life's work will forever be linked. Barbara Heck, who was without intention a part of the founding of Methodism both in the United States and Canada, is a woman who is famous because of the trend for an institution or movement to exalt the roots of its founding to enhance its belief in the continuity and history.