Photos
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Beatrice is on left behind the wagon
Beatrice, Lell, and Sade Perkins
Uriah (Rye) and Beatrice Nielson
Beatrice Ann Perkins Nielson
Birth: 28 February 1884 at Bluff, San Juan, Utah, USA
Parents: Benjamin Perkins and Sarah Williams
Married: Uriah Albert Nielson 08 October 1903 at Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah, USA
Death: 22 February 1949 Price, Carbon, Utah, USA
LIFE SKETCH OF BEATRICE ANN PERKINS NIELSON
By David L. WaltonBeatrice Ann Perkns was born 28 February 1884 at Bluff, Utah, second child of Sarah Williams and Benjamin Perkins. When Sarah arrived in Cedar City from Wales, preparations were underway for a colonizing mission to the San Juan, and Sarah, not a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, decided to travel with her sister to help care for Ben and Mary Ann’s young children. Sarah was impressed by the lives of the pioneer company, and joined the Church shortly after their arrival in Bluff. She returned to Cedar City later that summer. A year later, Ben took Mary Ann to Cedar to visit her parents and to seek Sarah’s hand as a plural wife. While Mary Ann agreed to the “principle,” she and her family objected to his taking her sister as his second wife.
In spite of those objections, the marriage took place 28 October 1881 in St. George, and in November or December, Ben, Mary Ann, and Sarah returned to Bluff. In 1882 Mary Ellen (Lell) was born, then in December 1882 Ben's first wife, Mary Ann, delivered a son, John, and just over a year later Sarah bore Beatrice, making seven living children under the age of fourteen in the combined household. Ben moved the two families to new quarters in Cedar City and later elsewhere before returning to Bluff.
From her earliest days she delighted in caring for and teaching children, was filled with empathy for them all regardless of their race or creed. As a very young girl she began teaching in Primary, then in Sunday School and MIA. As an adult, she became Primary President in Bluff, a calling she held for some twenty years. The children adored her. She also school in the one-room schoolhouse in Bluff.
Like each of Sarah's daughters, she put the highest of priorities on cleanliness in her home and about her person; some of her nieces as well as her granddaughters remember visits to her home when they were young and their memories are of a spotless shining kitchen floor, heavenly aromas from food she had cooking, and of hearing her singing as she went about her work, apparently happy as a person could be. Not only did she master managing her home, but she grew most of what they ate, made cheeses, made countless quilts, but found time, in addition to her Primary work, she helped with the Indian schools.
Not only did Beatrice treasure beauty of the spirit, of the scriptures, of paintings and music, but of plants—her flowers and beautiful garden were always a point of attraction, but she loved the natural offerings of the Bluff cliffs and hillsides.
Three of her sons, Kent, Lisle and U.A., fell victims to Alport's Syndrome, which took their lives, but even in the face of these tragedies, she maintained her unshakable faith that all was well — part of the Lord's Plan. She was equally loved by her in-laws, her husband, and all of her children.
As with her sisters, she maintained the closest of bonds with her parents, especially with Sarah, and was ever ready to do whatever she could for her comfort. It was to Beatrice and Rye's home that Sarah went a short time before that fateful trip to Monticello, where she died, but that last visit to Bluff had been a time of renewal for her, with the great flood of memories associated there, and with Beatrice's love and care.
Obituary:
Blanding — Funeral services for Mrs. Beatrice Perkins Nielson, 65, prominent Church worker and school teacher, were conducted in Blanding Thursday.
Mrs. Nielson, wife of Uriah A. Nielson, died Monday night at a Price hospital following an operation. She had been ill about two weeks.
Born in 1883, Mrs. Nielson was a daughter of Ben and Sarah Perkins, pioneers to southeastern Utah who helped found the settlement at Bluff in 1879. She was married to Mr. Nielson in the Salt Lake Temple.
An active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Mrs. Nielson had served as president of the Primary Association, the Relief Society and Young Women’s Mutual Improvement Association in Blanding. She had held many positions as civic worker in the county, and until her recent illness was a teacher at the Blanding Indian School.
Surviving are her husband and six sons and daughters, Mrs. Inez Conway and Mrs. Donna Black of Blanding; Clyde Nielson, Monticello; Kent and U. A. Nielson, Blanding, and Kirk Nielson, Magna; five sisters, Mrs. Gladys Lyman and Mrs Irene Lyman, Blanding; Mrs. Sadie Barton, Monticello; Mrs. Ione Hunt and Mrs. Minerva Duncan, Salt Lake City.
Burial was at Bluff.
Sources:
1. O'Brien, Alberta Lyman. The Story of Sarah Williams Perkins. Revised 1993. Download at
Internet Archive
2. Walton, Elaine Perkins. “Rememberings,” privately published. 1992.
3.
Obituary found on FamilySearch
4.
Obituary in San Juan Record
Right-click [Mac Control-click] to open full-size image:
Beatrice is on left behind the wagon
Beatrice, Lell, and Sade Perkins
Uriah (Rye) and Beatrice Nielson