Barbara Heck

BARBARA RUCKLE (Heck). Bastian Ruckle as well as Margaret Embury had a daughter called Barbara (Heck), born 1734. She married in 1760 Paul Heck and together they had seven kids. Four of them lived until adulthood.

The person who is being profiled was either an active participant in an important occasion or has made an extraordinary declaration or suggestion that has been documented. Barbara Heck however left no letters or statements indeed any evidence of such since when she got married is merely secondary. No primary source exists that can be used to reconstruct Barbara Heck's motives and the actions she took during her life. However, she has become heroized in the beginning of North American Methodism history. It's the responsibility of the biographer to describe and delineate the mythology of this particular case and to try to portray the person who is portrayed in it.

Abel Stevens, a Methodist historian wrote this in 1866. Barbara Heck is now unquestionably the first woman to be included in the history of New World ecclesiastical women, thanks to the progress made by Methodism. In order to understand the importance of her name it is essential to examine the lengthy background of the Movement with which she will always be associated. Barbara Heck was involved fortuitously at the time of the emergence of Methodism throughout both the United States and Canada and her fame is based on the inherent characteristic of a very successful movement or institution to celebrate its origins for the purpose of enhancing its sense of tradition and the continuity of its history.