Barbara Heck

BARBARA(Heck) born 1734 in Ballingrane (Republic of Ireland) and daughter of Bastian Ruckle and Margaret Embury. Bastian Ruckle the father of Margaret Embury and Bastian Ruckle was born in Ballingrane in 1734. She married Paul Heck 1760 in Ireland. The couple had seven children from which four survived into childhood.

In most cases subjects have participated in important events and has expressed unique thoughts or ideas that are recorded in writing. Barbara Heck did not leave any letters or written statements. The evidence of the date of her wedding was a secondary issue. The documents which were used by Heck to explain her motives and actions are gone. Nevertheless she has become an hero in the early time of Methodism in North America. Here, the biographer's role is to account and explain the myth as well as describe if possible the real person who lies within the myth.

Abel Stevens was a Methodist scholar who wrote in 1866. Barbara Heck, a humble woman of the New World who is credited with the advancement of Methodism across the United States, has undoubtedly risen to first place in the history of the church in the New World. To understand the significance of her name, it is crucial to take a look at the extensive history of the movement with which she will always be linked. Barbara Heck, who was unintentionally involved in the founding of Methodism as well as in Canada she is one of the women whose fame stems from the tendency of a successful organization or movement to celebrate its origins to reinforce its belief in continuity and tradition.