Barbara Heck

RUCKLE, BARBARA (Heck) b. Bastian Ruckle (Sebastian), and Margaret Embury, daughter of Bastian Ruckle (Republic of Ireland), married Paul Heck (1760) in Ireland. They had seven children, of which four were born.

In general, the person who is featured in an autobiography has been an active participant in important occasions or has articulated unique thoughts or suggestions that have been documented in written form. Barbara Heck left neither letters nor statements. In fact, the most evidence available for issues like the date of Barbara Heck's wedding comes from second-hand sources. There are no primary sources, from which one can reconstruct her motives as well as her actions throughout most of her life. She has nevertheless become an iconic figure in the early years of North American Methodism historical. It's the responsibility of the biographer to explain and define the myth for this particular case and then to attempt to depict the actual person included within the myth.

Abel Stevens, a Methodist historian wrote this in 1866. Barbara Heck is now unquestionably an early woman in the history of New World ecclesiastical women, because of the advancements in the field of Methodism. It is far more crucial to look at the extent of Barbara Heck's accomplishments relative to the label that she received rather than her story of life. Barbara Heck was involved fortuitously in the inception of Methodism throughout Canada and the United States and Canada and her fame lies in the tendency for a highly successful movement or institution to celebrate its beginnings in order to reinforce its belief in heritage and be a part of the past.