Jamima Elizabeth (Heck) Bowen (1765 - 1805)

Born 13 Jun 1765 in New York City, Province of New York [uncertain]

Ancestors

Died 30 Dec 1805 at age 40 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Joachim Hawn [send private message]

Biography

JAMIMA ELIZABETH HECK BOWEN

JAMIMA ELIZABETH HECK was born at New York City, New York, on June 13, 1765. She was the daughter of BARBARA RUCKLE and PAUL HECK, who were Palatine Immigrants from County Limerick, Ireland, to the United States (New York) who would, with the events of increasing hostilities and the outbreak of the War for Independence between Great Britain and the American Colonies find their family again in a new land, this time though, Canada. Considered UEL (United Empire Loyalists), the Heck's like many other families and individuals who'd remained loyal to the King of England, sought the safety of refuge and kinship they hoped for in the Dominion.

One small but no less requisite "housekeeping" matter and subsequent comments need to be dispensed with as pertains to a set of historical records attached to the FamilySearch Profile for the woman we have profiled here, as her name appears elsewhere: JAMIMA ELIZABETH HECK. The problem is that the recordset, while agreeing with the profiled dates of birth and christening as well as their locations, nonetheless, identifies the child as MARIA HECK not even "ELIZABETH MARIA" daughter of Paul and Barbara Heck, see following abstracts:

New York Births and Christenings, 1640-1962

Name:.......................Maria Heck

Event Type:..............Christening

Event Date:..............23 Jun 1765

Event Place: New York, British Colonial America

Sex:...................................Female

Birth Date:...............13 Jun 1765

Birthplace:...................New York

Father's Name:...........Paul Heck

Mother's Name:...Barbara Heck

New York Births and Christenings, 1640-1962

Name:..............Maria Heck

Event Type:.....Christening

Event Date:.....23 Jun 1765

Event Place: Lutheran Church, New York, New York, New York

Sex:..........................Female

Father's Name:..Paul Heck

Mother's Name:...Barbara

Initially, the FamilySearch Profile name matched that of these two New York birth and christening records. The problem was that once research began on the Heck family, it became immediately apparent that early authorship - particularly for the child's mother, was yielding consistent conflicts with how FamilySearch identified this daughter of Barbara Ruckle and Paul Heck, and how the majority of works mentioning their seven children identified her. In short, outside of FamilySearch, the name most commonly seen for her is: JAMIMA ELIZABETH HECK, and as you've no doubt already noticed, the name recorded on those two records does not even agree in a partial sense. On the record, the child was known as MARIA HECK the daughter of Barbara and Paul Heck. And it's impossible to know which took place first,.. creation of the FamilySearch Profile and related date/location information, or if the record(s) were discovered during searches and became the source(s) from where the details were extracted to identify this Heck daughter?

While the question of chronology can be assumed irrelevant at this time, the question arising from the utter conflict between MARIA HECK and JAMIMA ELIZABETH HECK can not be overlooked. It appeared wherever she was recalled and identified by the biographers and family researchers of Barbara Ruckle Heck, she was being identified in one of two manners:

1.) JAMIMA HECK or

2.) ELIZABETH HECK

For anyone who has researched BARBARA RUCKLE HECK, it becomes immediately apparent that there is an abundance of published. well received, and countless posting materials for her. Her role in the founding of Canadian and American Methodism may be more technically and correctly described as mythic rather than practical, but she has endured as a beloved character perceived indispensable in the historical founding of this denomination which has earned her memorial accolades as a pioneer Methodist, and the subject of many serious and accomplished authors from a variety of religious and other perspectives, including published genealogical research.

And since with respect to the latter subject, a degree of accuracy and historical reference has been likewise exercised in the naming and describing of the children of PAUL HECK and BARBARA RUCKLE, I defer to that body of work as being correct in terms of their daughter's name, over and against what is shown per attached record. Even in 1765, New York City was a growing, thriving, bustling crossroads of immigrant and native-born citizenry, and the reasonable likelihood of commonly shared birthdates and even birthplace between two girls sharing a family name and basic vital features, both born of parents named Paula and Barbara, but who are equally excluded from consideration as being one and the same due to no other identifying detail by name. That makes far more sense than trying to accommodate the unyielding obstruction resulting from the two quite different names.

It is the woman named JEMIMA ELIZABETH HECK who was born to Barbara and Paul Heck. She would go on to marry OWEN BOWEN in 1784, at Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

Their known children were

1. JOHN WILLARD BOWEN (1785–1803)​
2. JEMIMA ELIZABETH BOWEN (1786–1800)​​
3. DEBORAH SOPHIA BOWEN MURRAY (1788–1851)

Her eldest two children, John Willard (18), and Jemima Elizabeth (14) both died in adolescence. Deborah Sophia, married Donald Murray Jr.

JEMIMA ELIZABETH BOWEN died on 30 December 1788, at Montreal, Quebec, Canada. She is buried in the Protestant Congregation of Montreal Burying Ground--Montreal, Montreal Region, Quebec, Canada

Sources

• "New York Births and Christenings, 1640-1962", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:V2H8-XVB : 2020), Maria Heck, 1765.
• "New York Births and Christenings, 1640-1962", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FD2R-3Q1 : 14 February 2020), Maria Heck, 1765.
• Web: Montreal, Canada, non-Catholic Marriage Index, 1766-1899; https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/18708251/person/332347333637/hints?Hints.hintStatus=Accepted ; Grooms Name: Owen Bowen; Marriage Date: 1784; Marriage Place: Montreal, Québec, Canada; Bride’s Name: Jemina Elizabeth Hick (Jemima Elizabeth Heck)
• Canada, Find a Grave Index, 1600s-Current; Name: Jemima Elizabeth Heck Bowen; (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/214286946/jemima-elizabeth-bowen); Burial: Protestant Congregation of Montreal Burying Ground--Montreal, Montreal Region, Quebec, Canada; Find A Grave Memorial ID: 214286946; Death: 20 December 1788; Maintained by Sally Docstater (Contributor: 47915574)