Barbara Heck

BARBARA HICK (Baby) Ruckle was born in 1734, Ballingrane. She is the daughter of Margaret Embury and Bastian Ruckle. Bastian Ruckle (Sebastian) (Sebastian) and Margaret Embury, daughter of Bastian Ruckle (Republic of Ireland), married Paul Heck (1760) in Ireland. They were blessed with seven children. Of these, four lived to adulthood.

Usually, the subject of the biography is an active participant in important instances or has presented unique thoughts or suggestions that have been recorded in documentary format. Barbara Heck, on the contrary, did not leave writings or statements. There is no evidence to support such matters as the date of her marriage, is merely secondary. There are no surviving primary sources from which one can trace her motivations and her actions over the span of her life. Her name is still considered heroized in the tradition of Methodism. The biographer has to define the myth, define it and identify the character who is portrayed in the story.

Abel Stevens, a Methodist historian wrote this in 1866. Barbara Heck is now unquestionably the first woman in the time of New World ecclesiastical women, because of the advancements in the field of Methodism. It is more important to examine the enormity of Barbara Heck's accomplishments relative to the label it was conferred upon her than the story of her personal life. Barbara Heck was involved fortuitously in the genesis of Methodism in Canada and the United States and Canada and her fame lies in the tendency for a highly successful movement or institution to praise its origins to increase its understanding of tradition and continuity with the past.