John Beecher reached Boston on 26 Jun 1637 from Kent, England with his wife and son Isaac. With Theopilus Eaton and others he left Boston on 1 Sept 1637 is search of a place to locate. They walked to Quinnipiac (now New Haven). When Eaton returned to Boston for the Rev. John Davenport and his party, he left seven men at Quinnipiac, including John Beecher who died and was buried there that winter. John Beecher was buried at the corner of George and Meadow Streets, New Haven. While excavating for a building in 1750 his bones were found. Mrs. Beecher and her son Isaac, then 15 years old, returned with the Eaton party to Quinnipiac (New Haven) in the spring of 1638. She was a Doctress and mid-wife.
"The tradition that John Beecher was the name of the man who died during the first winter in New Haven was first recorded by President Stiles of Yale, who was an eighteenth century historian and collected much information from aged couples. I think it is probably correct. He was the husband of the mid-wife who accompanied the first settlers in New Haven and who was called indifferently widow Hannah Potter Beecher or widow Hannah Potter. She brought with her two Potter sons as well as the son Isaac Beecher who was younger than the Potters” ®3300