Morrisite.org › Roll of membership › Niels Rasmussen Beck
On the roll
Niels Rasmussen Beck (1823–1888)
A Danish convert who served as sergeant of the guard in his 1855 pioneer company, farmed at Moroni, was held to bail after the siege of Kington Fort, and by 1870 was farming in the Deer Lodge Valley of Montana, where his is the earliest Morrisite land patent yet found.
- On the roll
- Beck, Niels R., in the 1861–62 roll of membership printed in 1886
- Born
- February 26, 1823, Tørring, Skanderborg, Denmark, son of Rasmus Nielsen and Anne Nielsdatter (Family Tree)
- Died
- July 21, 1888, Deer Lodge, Montana; buried at Deer Lodge (Family Tree)
- Wife
- Maria Simonsen Thompson (1834–1898), married February 3, 1851, at Tønning, Skanderborg, Denmark (Family Tree)
- Children
- Four in Family Tree: Erastus (1853–1914), Simon Thomsen (1855–1926), Margaret Anna (1857–1942) and Annie Serena (1859–1940)
- June 1862
- Taken at Kington Fort: printed as “N. R. Beck” in the Deseret News list of June 25, 1862, held to $1,500 bail for the March 1863 term
- Later path
- Stayed with the Morrisites. Family Tree describes him as a Morrisite; died at Deer Lodge, Montana, in 1888.
- Family Tree
- FamilySearch KWJ4-LNP, Niels Rasmussen Beck (1823–1888)
Life
- 26 Feb 1823Born at Tørring, Skanderborg, Denmark. (Family Tree)
- 3 Feb 1851Marries Maria Simonsen Thompson at Tønning, Skanderborg. (Family Tree)
- 1855Crosses the plains to Utah in the Jacob F. Secrist and Noah T. Guymon Company, in which he serves as sergeant of the guard; the roster lists him as “N. R. Beck.” A family story in Family Tree has him emigrating as a Latter-day Saint convert with his wife and their son Erastus. (Church History Biographical Database; Family Tree)
- 1857–59Living at Manti and then Moroni, Sanpete County, Utah. (Family Tree)
- 1860Farming at Moroni, with real estate worth $350 and personal property worth $500, with Maria, 29, and four children. John Garrett, also on the roll, is on the same census page. (1860 U.S. census)
- 1861–62His name is on the roll of membership of Joseph Morris’s Church of the Firstborn.
- June 1862After the siege of Kington Fort he is among the men brought before Judge Kinney and held to $1,500 bail for the March 1863 term of court. (Deseret News, June 25, 1862)
- 1870Farming in the Deer Lodge Valley, Montana, as “Nelson Beck,” 48, born in Denmark (real estate $550, personal property $1,350), next to the households of Ole Olsen and Lars C. Hansen, both also on the roll. The household is Ellen C., 49, Chris, 11, and Anna, 8, the children born in Utah. (1870 U.S. census)
- 1 May 1871Receives the patent for 160 acres in the Deer Lodge Valley (Montana Principal Meridian, T8N R9W, secs. 34–35), a preemption cash entry at the Helena land office (certificate 230). It is the earliest Morrisite land patent found in the valley. Lars C. Hansen patented land in the same section in 1873. (BLM General Land Office records)
- 1880Farming alone at Cottonwood Creek in the Deer Lodge Valley, aged 57, the first household on the census page. His neighbors include Lars C. Hansen and his family and Lars C. Larson, whose children were born in Idaho in 1864 and in Montana from 1866, the path of the Morrisites from Soda Springs to the Deer Lodge Valley. (1880 U.S. census)
- 21 Jul 1888Dies at Deer Lodge, Montana, and is buried there. (Family Tree)
A household that does not match
Family Tree gives Niels a wife, Maria (born 1834), and four children born between 1853 and 1859; the 1860 census at Moroni agrees, with Maria and four children. The 1870 census in the Deer Lodge Valley lists a different household: Ellen C., aged 49, and two children, Chris, 11, and Anna, 8. Ellen may be a second wife, or the enumerator may have taken the names down wrongly. Neither Ellen nor Chris appears in Family Tree, and where Maria was in 1870 is not known. By 1880 Niels was living alone.
Open questions
- When did Niels reach the Deer Lodge Valley? A preemption claimant had to prove the date he settled on the land, so his case file at the National Archives (Helena land office, cash certificate 230) should give it, and with it perhaps the date the Morrisite families arrived.
- Where were the Becks between the court term of March 1863 and 1870? Did they go to Soda Springs with the other Morrisites?
- Who were Ellen C., Chris and Anna Beck of the 1870 census, and did Maria come to Montana? By 1880 Niels lived alone.
If you can answer one, write to contact@morrisite.org.
Sources
- Roll of membership, 1861–62. Printed by George S. Dove & Co., 1886. See Roll of membership.
- “The Davis County Bandits.” Deseret News, June 25, 1862, p. 412. See Documents.
- Church History Biographical Database: Niels Rasmussen Beck, Jacob F. Secrist and Noah T. Guymon Company (1855). Church History Department
- 1860 U.S. census, Moroni, Sanpete County, Utah Territory: Nels R. Beck household. FamilySearch image
- 1870 U.S. census, Deer Lodge County, Montana Territory, dwelling 162: Nelson Beck household. FamilySearch image
- 1880 U.S. census, Cottonwood Creek, Deer Lodge County, Montana Territory, enumeration district 12, p. 173a, dwelling 1: “W. Beck” [Niels R. Beck]. Ancestry, 1880 United States Federal Census (NARA T9, roll 742).
- Bureau of Land Management. General Land Office Records: land patent to Neils R. Beck, May 1, 1871, cash certificate 230, Helena land office (accession STA-MT0070__.167). glorecords.blm.gov
- FamilySearch Family Tree: Niels Rasmussen Beck, KWJ4-LNP, including the story “The Morrisites.” Consulted November 4, 2026.
Cite this page
Rogers, Eric Paul, ed. “Niels Rasmussen Beck (1823–1888).” Morrisite.org. https://morrisite.org/person/niels-r-beck.html. Updated November 4, 2026.