In 1734, Barbara (aka Ruttle) Ruckle was born in Ballingrane to Margaret (nee Embury) and Sebastian "Bastian" Ruckle.
In 1760, in Ireland, she married Paul Heck.
In the summer of 1760, the newlywed Hecks, along with several other families of their faith, emigrated from Limerick.
They intended to found a linen factory in New York City, arriving August 11, 1760.
She bore at least 7 known children:
1761 in New York – Jemima Elizabeth Heck (d. 1788 in Montreal)
1763 (born and died) – Catherine Barbara Heck
1765– Jacobina Elizabeth Heck
In October 1766, she came upon a group of her friends playing cards in her kitchen. Angrily she "lifted a corner of her apron, swept the cards from the table into it with her hand, went to the fire and cast them from her apron into the flames. Barbara saw the danger.
She put on her bonnet and went to (her first cousin) Philip Embury and said to him, 'Philip you must preach to us or we shall all go to hell together, and God will require our blood at your hands!'"
But Philip took some convincing. "I cannot preach, for I have neither a house nor congregation."
"Preach in your own house first, and to our own company," said Barbara.
Philip gave in and preached his first sermon, to five people, in his own rented house on on Barrack Street. This is believed to be the first Methodist sermon preached in America. Embury held services every Thursday evening and twice on Sunday.
1767– John Heck (d. 1805)
1769– Jacob Heck (d. 1847)
After 1770, a group including the Emburys and the Hecks settled in Camden Township near modern Bennington, Vermont.
1771 East Camden, Addington, Upper Canada– Samuel Heck Sr. (d. 1841)
1772 – Nancy Heck (d. 1781)
Paul Heck enlisted in a loyalist regiment of Burgoyne.
At the time of the surrender at Saratoga, Paul was home on a furlough. He was arrested by patriot soldiers, but escaped at night while they slept, and made his way through the woods into Canada.
Inevitably, in 1778, his farm was confiscated by the rebels. Barbara joined him in Canada.
In 1785, they sought refuge in Montreal, Quebec.
As loyalists, they were resettled in Township No.7 (Augusta), Concession 3 near Prescott, Ontario.
Barbara Heck "led a humble, holy, blameless life, and died among her kindred with her Bible . . . on her knees." - Albert Carman, 1909.
In 1804, on August 17, she passed on suddenly in her son Samuel's home in Augusta Township, Upper Canada.
"The progress of Methodism in the US has now indisputably placed the humble name of Barbara Heck first on the list of women in the ecclesiastical history of the New World." - Abel Stevens, 1866
In 1734, Barbara (aka Ruttle) Ruckle was born in Ballingrane to Margaret (nee Embury) and Sebastian "Bastian" Ruckle.
In 1760, in Ireland, she married Paul Heck.
In the summer of 1760, the newlywed Hecks, along with several other families of their faith, emigrated from Limerick.
They intended to found a linen factory in New York City, arriving August 11, 1760.
She bore at least 7 known children:
1761 in New York – Jemima Elizabeth Heck (d. 1788 in Montreal)
1763 (born and died) – Catherine Barbara Heck
1765– Jacobina Elizabeth Heck
In October 1766, she came upon a group of her friends playing cards in her kitchen. Angrily she "lifted a corner of her apron, swept the cards from the table into it with her hand, went to the fire and cast them from her apron into the flames. Barbara saw the danger.
She put on her bonnet and went to (her first cousin) Philip Embury and said to him, 'Philip you must preach to us or we shall all go to hell together, and God will require our blood at your hands!'"
But Philip took some convincing. "I cannot preach, for I have neither a house nor congregation."
"Preach in your own house first, and to our own company," said Barbara.
Philip gave in and preached his first sermon, to five people, in his own rented house on on Barrack Street. This is believed to be the first Methodist sermon preached in America. Embury held services every Thursday evening and twice on Sunday.
1767– John Heck (d. 1805)
1769– Jacob Heck (d. 1847)
After 1770, a group including the Emburys and the Hecks settled in Camden Township near modern Bennington, Vermont.
1771 East Camden, Addington, Upper Canada– Samuel Heck Sr. (d. 1841)
1772 – Nancy Heck (d. 1781)
Paul Heck enlisted in a loyalist regiment of Burgoyne.
At the time of the surrender at Saratoga, Paul was home on a furlough. He was arrested by patriot soldiers, but escaped at night while they slept, and made his way through the woods into Canada.
Inevitably, in 1778, his farm was confiscated by the rebels. Barbara joined him in Canada.
In 1785, they sought refuge in Montreal, Quebec.
As loyalists, they were resettled in Township No.7 (Augusta), Concession 3 near Prescott, Ontario.
Barbara Heck "led a humble, holy, blameless life, and died among her kindred with her Bible . . . on her knees." - Albert Carman, 1909.
In 1804, on August 17, she passed on suddenly in her son Samuel's home in Augusta Township, Upper Canada.
"The progress of Methodism in the US has now indisputably placed the humble name of Barbara Heck first on the list of women in the ecclesiastical history of the New World." - Abel Stevens, 1866
Inscription
"Barbara Heck put her brave soul against the rugged possibilities of the future and under God brought into existence American and Canadian Methodism, and between these her memory will ever form a hallowed link."
"In memory of one who laid foundations others have laid upon."
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