Barbara Heck

RUCKLE BARBARA (Heck) b. Bastian Ruckle the daughter of Margaret Embury and Bastian Ruckle was born in Ballingrane in 1734. She was married to Paul Heck 1760 in Ireland. They had seven children, of whom 4 were born.

The person who is the subject of the biography is usually an individual who has had crucial roles in historic events or created unique concepts and ideas that have been captured in written form. Barbara Heck however left no notes or letters, and they are not evidence as the date of her marriage has no significance. It is not possible to find a primary source that could be utilized to determine Barbara Heck's motives or activities during most of her lifetime. Nevertheless she has become an iconic figure within the first history of Methodism in North America. The biographer's role is to delineate and interpret the myth and if possible to describe the true person who was enshrined into the myth.

Abel Stevens, a Methodist historian wrote this in 1866. The development of Methodism throughout the United States has now indisputably made the modest name of Barbara Heck first on the list of women who have been included in the ecclesiastical history of the New World. Her accomplishments are based more on the significance of the cause that she is connected to than the personal life. Barbara Heck, who was unintentionally involved in the formation of Methodism both in the United States and Canada She is one of the women who's fame is due to the tendency that a successful institution or movement would be able to celebrate their beginnings to reinforce its sense of continuity and history.