Barbara Heck

RUCKLE, BARBARA (Heck) b. 1734 in Ballingrane (Republic of Ireland) She was the 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 Aug. 1804 at Augusta Township Upper Canada.

In most cases, the subject has participated in important events and has shared unique ideas or thoughts which were recorded in writing. Barbara Heck has left no correspondence or documents. Her date of marriage was, for instance, 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 lifetime. Nevertheless she has become an hero in the early time of Methodism in North America. It is the task of the biographers to clarify and define the myth of this particular case and then to attempt to depict the actual person enshrined therein.

Abel Stevens a Methodist Historian recorded the event in 1866. The development of Methodism in the United States has now indisputably made the modest names of Barbara Heck first on the listing of women who have been included in the ecclesiastical history of the New World. Her reputation is more based on the importance of the cause that she was connected to than the personal lives. Barbara Heck's participation at the start of Methodism was a fortunate coincidence. Her fame is due to her involvement in a effective organization or movement can glorify their origins, in order to keep ties with the past and to remain rooted.