WIFE

Catherine

CHILDREN

1. Mary Beach
    b. 6 Jun 1642
    m. 20 Jan 1661 John Hull

2. Benjamin Beach  
    b. 3 Oct 1644
    m. Mary Peacock
    m. 1 Feb 1678 Sarah Wells
    m. 5 Dec 1705 Mary widow of Samuel Fairfield
    d. 9 Apr 1713

3. Azariah Beach
    b. 6 Jul 1646
    m. Martha Ives

4. Mercy Beach
    b 21 May 1648
    m. Joshua Curtiss

Richard Beach
by Susan Brooke
June 2023

Richard Beach and Andrew Hull were among the first settlers of the New Haven Colony.  They were both in the records in 1639. (1) Andrew Hull died shortly after becoming a freeman and Richard Beach married his widow, Catherine. (2) She had two young daughters, Hannah and Sarah.  Richard Beach and his wife Catherine had four children born in New Haven.  (3) After that he moved several times.  He was probably in Wallingford, and then purchased land in Stratford in 1660 and Elizabeth, New Jersey in 1665. (4) He may have died in Morristown, New Jersey after 1691. 

Sources

(1) Records of the Colony and Plantation of New Haven From 1638 to 1649 by Charles Hoadly

(2) Ancient Town Records Vol 1, New Haven Town Records 1649-1662 by Franklin Bowditch Dexter pg 77, 214, 220, 228, 230, 231

Sources found on Wikitree

• 6 June 1654, "The Court being informed that Richard Beech is to goe away from this Towne called him to show how he intended the two chilldren his wife had before hee married her wch was Andrew Hulls should haue their portions paid wch is fifteene pounds ten shillings a peece as appears by Ingagment vnder his & his wiues hand before marriage." This causes some difficulty and several meetings. Richard asks that Andrews assets be reappraised. House and land that were at the time of Andrew's death worth £30 are now only worth 14 or 15. The court allows some abatement and Hannah Hull, who is of age, and Sarah Hull, are to receive £13 each. Some of this is to be made up by monies due to Beech. In the following two months Richard sold his various parcels of land.

(3) Genealogical Dictionary of First Settlers by James Savage, page 144

Richard, New haven 1639, one of the signers of the original compact, m. 1640 the widow of Andrew Hull and had, in her right, there bapt in 1642 Mary b. in June of that year, Benjamin b. Oct 1644, Azariah July 1646, and Mercy 1648; all three bapt 21 May 1648. Removed to New London 1667.

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Beach in America Containing General Information Regarding the Three Brothers: Richard Beach, John Beach, and Thomas Beach, by Elmer Taylor Beach, 1923

"These are the recorded children of Richard Beach, Planter. That there may have been other descendants born between 1648 and 1688 seems probably, though nothing more is definitely known at this time. Richard appears to have been something of a rover, up to the time of settling in Elizabeth, New Jersey, and did not remain long in a place. A veil of partial obscurity covers his whereabouts and doings between 1648, when he disappears from the active records of New Haven Colony, and 1660. He may have resided in Wallingford, where he was one of the proprietors, or at some other point, but in the year 1660 he purchased land in Stratford, Conn., the same year his brother John moved there, and in 1664 he was keeping a tavern in Stratford.
1664 was the year that Elizabethtown, New Jersey was first founded. And in that year Richard Beach sold out in Stratford and with his entire family except Benjamin, who was already married and settled in Stratford, moved to Elizabeth, New Jersey, where he purchased a home lot of 13 acres. this purchase was made in 1665. He also purchased 50 acres of upland on beach's Brook, 30 acres of upland on Crave's Brook, and several other smaller holding in all 102 acres and resided in Elizabeth till 1688. March 31, 1688, he sold all of his land in Elizabeth to the Widow Agatha White, who sixteen days later resold to William Darie, of Elizabeth.
Richard is thought to have removed to Morris County, New Jersey, but at this point he is lost sight of."