Heck, Samuel

  • DICTIONARY OF CANADIAN BIOGRAPHY ARTICLE: G. S. French, “HECK, SAMUEL,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 7, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–. https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/heck_samuel_7E.html
  • DCB profile notes:
    • Methodist preacher and farmer; b. 28 July 1771 in Camden Township, N.Y., son of Paul Heck and Barbara Ruckle; m. c. 1797 Lois Wright, and they had eight children; d. 18 Aug. 1841 at his home in Augusta Township, Upper Canada.
    • Paul and Barbara Heck were members of a group known as Palatines who migrated from Ireland to New York in 1760. In Ireland many had become followers of John Wesley, and in North America the Hecks, and particularly Barbara, took an active part in the formation of the first Methodist society in New York City. Subsequently, they and other Palatine families moved to Camden Township, near modern Bennington, Vt, and established a Methodist community there. With the American Revolutionary War the Hecks became loyalist refugees and in 1785 they settled in Township No.7 (Augusta), in what would soon become Upper Canada.
    • Samuel Heck was one of a select company of local leaders whose regular preaching over many years, faithful commitment to Methodist teaching, and willingness to sustain their church helped to lay strong foundations for the community in Upper Canada. During the frequent absences of the itinerant ministers, they maintained continuity in teaching and discipline and provided much of the material support required for the institutional growth of Methodism. They endeavoured with considerable success to secure acceptance of an evangelical faith, to uphold a high standard of individual morality, to perpetuate Upper Canada’s distinctive mixture of British and North American values, and to persuade their brethren that Christianity should transcend national boundaries.
  • Son of Loyalist listed in Loyalist Directory –https://uelac.ca/loyalist-directory/detail/?wpda_search_column_id=3725
  • Find a GRAVE: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/72194190/samuel-heck