Barbara Heck

BARBARA RUCKLE (Heck). 1734 Ballingrane (Republic of Ireland), daughter of Bastian (Sebastian) Ruckle and Margaret Embury m. 1760 Paul Heck in Ireland and they had seven children, of who four were born and survived to. 17 August. 1804 at Augusta Township Upper Canada.

Normally the subject of a biography has been an active participant in important occasions or has articulated unique ideas or proposals which have been recorded in documentary form. Barbara Heck left neither letters or statement. In fact, the sole evidence for matters like the date of Barbara Heck's marriage comes from secondary sources. For the vast majority of her adulthood, there are no primary sources that permit us to trace her intentions and actions. She has nevertheless become a heroic figure in early North American Methodism history. In this instance the biographer's task is to define and account for the myth and, if feasible, describe the person who is enshrined within the myth.

It was the Methodist historian Abel Stevens wrote in 1866. The development of Methodism in the United States has now indisputably put the names of Barbara Heck first on the listing of women who have been included in the ecclesiastical history of the New World. To comprehend the importance of her name it is important that you look at the long history of the movement with which she will always be linked. Barbara Heck's role with the early days of Methodism was a fortunate coincidence. Her popularity is due to the fact that a successful organization or movement will celebrate their roots in order to maintain ties with the past and be rooted to it.