Anders Beck was born May 29, 1823, at Osterlarsker, Denmark. He was the youngest son of Herman Neilson Beck and Anne Kirstine Due. He had six sisters, two brothers, and one half-brother. His father was a farmer. Both parents were industrious and religious. They taught their children to work and to fear the Lord. They belonged to the Lutheran faith.

Anders had little opportunity for formal education. He attended school two days each week for two winters, but his mother, who was a good reader, taught him reading at home. She also instilled in him love for study and learning. Early in his life, he began to keep a complete account of his church work, business transactions, family affairs, and daily activities.

As a young boy, he worked on the farm. At thirteen, he began to work away from home. When he was seventeen, he worked at the carpenter trade. He sailed as ship's carpenter aboard the schooner, VENUS, from Copenhagen to Kronstadt, Russia, and to Malaga, Spain. On this voyage, he read the New Testament. After a year at sea, he bought his father's farm at Oster Marie. He married Elizabeth Louise Munch in 1845. Their daughter, Kirstine, was born in August of 1846 and died in December of 1847. Their second daughter, Anne Catherine, was born in November of 1847. While working as a grain merchant in 1851, he heard of the new Mormon religion. He studied the Book of Mormon and was baptized on December 19, 1852. The missionaries stayed at his home and held meetings there. Five of his relatives were also converted. In the middle of November 1853, he sold all of his possessions, paid his tithing, made donations to the Salt Lake Temple, and bade good-bye to his relatives and friends. With his wife and daughter, his youngest sister, Karen Christine, and his wife's cousin, Cecilia Kirstin Jensen, he journeyed by train to Copenhagen. There they waited almost a month before they sailed aboard the SLESVIG to Liverpool, England, on December 22, 1853. They were among 333 Scandinavian converts who did not speak English. They sailed with the JESSE MUNN on January 3, 1854. On February 20, 1854, they reached New Orleans. They traveled up the Mississippi River to St. Louis by steamboat. Many were stricken with cholera during the trip up the river. Anders was severely ill. It was thought that he could not live. Through faith and administration of the elders, he was healed. While he was ill, his little daughter died and was buried on land under some trees. They arrived in St. Louis on March 11, 1854.

At St. Louis, they waited until April for the next company of immigrants. Here, Anders' half-brother, Neils, joined them. In April, they went by boat to Kansas City. In June 1854, they began their trip by oxen in Hans Peter Olson's Company. There were sixty-two wagons with four oxen and two cows to each wagon. After a long, rough journey, they reached Salt Lake City, Utah, on October 5, 1854. He moved to Little Cottonwood, ten miles south of Salt Lake City. He worked on farms and in the canyon until the following March. He went back to Salt Lake City, paid $40 for a lot in the Second Ward, and built an adobe house 24 feet by 16 feet. He was sealed to Elizabeth Louise Munch and to Cecilia Kirstin Jensen by President Brigham Young. He farmed at Lehi. In Echo Canyon, he assisted in holding Johnston's Army back. He moved to Plain City and built a home in 1860. He moved back to Salt Lake City in 1863 and married Sophia Kirstine Hansen (Pedersen).

In 1864, he sold his home in Plain City and arrived in Paris, Idaho on April 28. He received his allotment of one acre in Paris. He built a house, with a dirt floor, from quaking aspen logs. Later, he bought two adjoining lots and built houses for his other wives. His first wife, Elizabeth Louise, joined him in Paris, after he sold his home in Salt Lake City in 1865.

Anders filed for his farm in 1873. There he built a trimmed log house with a stone cellar. That this house still stands, bears testimony to the quality of his carpenter work. He lived on the farm, worked the land, and raised crops of wheat, oats, hay, and alfalfa. In the garden, there were potatoes, watermelons, asparagus, and various berries.

In 1873, he was ordained a high priest and set apart as a member of the High Council. He made church speaking appointments the entire length of the Bear Lake Stake, from Woodruff to Soda Springs and to Cokeville. These trips were made by horses through snow and storm. He was able to address the congregations in English and Danish.

In 1883, while working on the granary for the co-op store, he was injured by a fall. The scaffolding collapsed under him, because somone had removed some of the supports. Due to the injuries, he had to lie in bed for three weeks. He was forced to use crutches and then a cane for several months. During the building of the Bear Lake Stake Tabernacle, Anders and his family donated money and hauled brick, timber, lime, and rock from Paris Canyon and Indian Creek. His team hauled the stone which bears the inscription on the front of the Tabernacle. He also helped build school houses, meeting houses, the Fielding Academy, and irrigation ditches. He also donated to temples. On May 17, 1884, he took his first ride on the new railroad to the dedication of the Logan Temple. He did temple work for his ancestors. Being a polygamist, he had to keep a sharp lookout for the U. S. marshals. He was fortunate in never being arrested.

His first and second wives died during the 1880's. His third wife, Sophia, died in 1892. He stayed on the farm until all his children were married. He lived with his son, Franklin, until his death in 1912.
-source: David E. Beck in the "History of Bear Lake Pioneers", compiled by Edith Parker Haddock and Dorothy Hardy Matthews. Edited by F. Ross Peterson, Edith Parker Haddock, and Dorothy Hardy Matthews. Published by Daughters of Utah Pioneers, Bear Lake County, Idaho. 1968.