Barbara Heck

BARBARA(Heck) born 1734 in the town of Ballingrane (Republic of Ireland) the daughter of Bastian Ruckle Margaret Embury. Bastian Ruckle married Margaret Embury in Ballingrane, Republic of Ireland. The couple had seven kids but only four of them lived into adulthood.

Most of the time subjects have participated in important events and has had unique thoughts or opinions which are documented in writing. Barbara Heck left neither letters nor statement. Actually, the sole evidence for matters like the date of the marriage from second-hand sources. For the vast majority of her adulthood it is not possible to find primary sources that permit us to trace the motives or actions of her. It is still an important figure for the beginning of Methodism. In this instance the biographer's mission is to determine the myth and explain it and if possible to describe the actual person featured in the myth.

Abel Stevens a Methodist Historian recorded the event in 1866. Barbara Heck, a humble woman of her native New World who is credited with the advancement of Methodism throughout in the United States, has undoubtedly been a leader in the history of the church in the New World. Her reputation is more based on the weight of the cause she is associated with than her personal life. Barbara Heck was involved fortuitously in the inception of Methodism in the United States and Canada and her fame rests on the inherent characteristic of a very popular organization or movement to celebrate its origins in order to strengthen its sense of tradition and connection to its past.