Barbara Heck

BARBARA(Heck) born 1734 in the town of Ballingrane (Republic of Ireland) the daughter of Bastian Ruckle Margaret Embury. Bastian Ruckle (Sebastian) along with Margaret Embury, daughter of Bastian Ruckle (Republic of Ireland), married Paul Heck (1760) in Ireland. They had seven children, of which four lived to adulthood.

Usually, the subject of the biography is a major participant in significant occasions or has articulated unique thoughts or suggestions that were recorded in a documentary format. Barbara Heck however left no notes or letters, and any evidence of such given the time of her wedding is not the only evidence. There are no surviving primary sources, from which one could reconstruct her motives or her actions throughout most of her existence. Her name is still considered an icon in the history of Methodism. It is the task of the biographer to clarify and define the myth that is being told, and to try to portray the real person in the myth.

Abel Stevens, a Methodist historian in 1866, wrote about this. Barbara Heck's humble title is considered to be the most important in the ecclesiastical histories of New World because of the growing popularity of Methodism. The importance of her story is primarily due to the creation of her gorgeous name from the historical background of the cause which her memory is forever recognized more than the story of her own lives. Barbara Heck, who was fortunate to be involved in the creation of Methodism across America as well as Canada She is one of the women whose fame stems from the trend that an established institution or movement will glorify their beginnings to reinforce its sense of continuity and history.