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 (Sebastian) as well Margaret Embury, daughter of Bastian Ruckle (Republic of Ireland) got married to Paul Heck (1760 in Ireland). They had seven children of which four survived childhood.

Normally the subject of an autobiography has been an active participant in important events or has enunciated distinctive concepts or ideas that have been recorded in documentary form. Barbara Heck has left no notes or correspondence. The date of her marriage, for example, is unsupported by evidence. In the majority of her life as an adult, there are no primary sources that allow us to reconstruct the motives or actions of her. But she is a heroic figure in early North American Methodism history. In this instance the biographer's mission is to determine and justify the myth and if possible to describe the real person enshrined in it.

Abel Stevens, a Methodist historian wrote this in 1866. Barbara Heck's humble name now ranks first in the list of women who have been a major contributor to ecclesiastical life within New World history. This has been caused by the expansion of Methodism in the United States. Her record is based more on the significance of the cause she was connected to than the personal lives. Barbara Heck's involvement in the beginning of Methodism was a synchronicity that happened to be a lucky one. Her fame is due to her involvement in a effective organization or movement can celebrate their roots in order to keep ties with the past and to feel rooted in it.