Barbara Heck

BARBARA (Heck), Born 1734 at Ballingrane in the Republic of Ireland. She is the daughter of Bastian (Sebastian) Ruckle and Margery Embury. Bastian Ruckle, father of Margaret Embury and Bastian Ruckle was born in Ballingrane in 1734. She was married to Paul Heck 1760 in Ireland. They had 7 children from which four survived into childhood.

The person who is being profiled is either a key participant in an important occasion or has made an extraordinary declaration or suggestion that was documented. Barbara Heck has left no notes or correspondence. Her marriage date as an example is not supported by any proof. There is no evidence of primary sources from which one could reconstruct her motivations or her actions throughout most of her life. In spite of this she gained fame in the beginning of Methodism. In this case, the job of the biographer is to provide an account of and explanation for the legend and describe if possible the real individual who is hidden in the myth.

Abel Stevens, Methodist historian from 1866. Barbara Heck is now unquestionably the first woman to be included in the history of New World ecclesiastical women, due to the advances made by Methodism. Her accomplishments is primarily due to the setting of her important name, derived from the past of the famous cause with which her memory will be forever linked more through the events of her personal life. Barbara Heck was involved fortuitously with the beginning of Methodism throughout both the United States and Canada and her reputation is built on the inherent nature of an extremely successful movement or institution to glorify its beginnings in order to strengthen the sense of tradition as well as the continuity of its history.