Sand Hill Indian History

"Preserving the Past for Future Generations"

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The Story of Cherokee Indians

Access to Cherokee Indian History Book

Learn about the heritage of the Cherokee Indians here at Sand Hill Indian History!

We at Sand Hill Indian Historical Association in Lincroft, NJ gladly provide you with an exclusive and completely access to the chapters of our book, which vividly details the Cherokee Indian history. Read on, and discover the story of our ancestors!

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Chapter 1

The Cherokee Indians Lose Their Homelands

About 500 years ago, the original home of the Native American Cherokee

Indian tribes was located in the Great Smoky Mountain areas of the present states of North and South Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, Alabama, and Georgia. The Cherokees’ first encounter with European settlers happened in 1540 when Hernando Desoto, a Spanish explorer, traveled from Florida...


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Chapter 2

History of the Richardson-Revey Clan

Monmouth County, NJ marriage records from the 1800s list as many as 12 marriages between the Cherokee Richardsons and the Lenape – Dutch Reveys. 19th-century tax rolls from Shrewsbury, Eatontown, Tinton Falls, and Ocean show property owned by the family Revey, also spelled Reavy, Revy, Rebee, and Reevy. According to period maps, the Richardsons, sometimes spelled...

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Chapter 3

Isaac’s Account Book

On display at the Neptune Historical Museum Library is the account book of Isaac Revey Richardson dating from 1855 to 1871. For 16 years, Isaac records the events of his life, his daily activities, his employers and whom he employed, how much he was paid for his work, and how much he paid...

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Chapter 4

Monmouth County - 150 Years Ago

On the cover of his account book, Ike kept track of the 500 pounds of coal the family used to heat the house from November to April in 1855. The next few pages in the account book offer a glimpse of what life was like in 19th-century Monmouth County.

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Chapter 5

The Move to Sand Hill

As the population continued to increase in Monmouth County through the last half of the 19th century, the Richardson-Revey clan found more construction work in the newly developing shore communities of Asbury Park and Ocean Grove, NJ. To be nearer their work, the Richardson brothers Isaac, Theodore, and Richard purchased 15 acres of land in 1877 from James Bradley of...

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Chapter 6

The Family Grows

Isaac and Elizabeth’s first child was Emma D. Richardson, born around 1850 in Eatontown, NJ. At about the age of 21, Emma married Asa Crummal of New Egypt on July 8, 1867. The union produced two sons, Ryers and Rudy Crummal, the grandsons of Isaac and Elizabeth. Ryers became the chief of the Sand Hill Band of Indians. He married twice and had two daughters,  Virginia and...

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Chapter 7

The Clan Expands

Eighteen years after their marriage, Elizabeth boarded a boat on March 24, 1862 at the Eatontown dock (Oceanport) to visit her sister Mary Gabriel in New York City. Isaac noted this special occasion in his account book because the male children, Isaac, 10 years old, Theodore, 8 years old, and Richard, 4 years old, boarded with their grandfather Richard P. Revey for $0.75 cents a week. The girls, Libby and Susan, stayed at home with their older sister Emma.

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Chapter 8

Early Days Around Tinton Falls

Legends tell of natives, known as Toponomese Indians, living in the area around Tinton Falls and Eatontown sold land to Thomas Eaton for a barrel of cider. The natives did not understand the concept of selling land or land ownership. They thought they were renting or leasing the land, allowing the settlers to use it for a time, and they would be able to hunt and fish on their land. These natives were in the Unami Clan, a part of the Lenni Lenape, later called Delaware.

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Chapter 9

Crossroads of the States

The earliest pathways and trails in Monmouth followed rivers to the seashore. Dutch and English settlers widened these Indian paths into dirt roads for their horses and wagons. Having no foundation, these dirt roads became quagmires for wagons and horses when it rained. Horses were changed every 12 hours at tavern stops while passengers endured the heat and dust of the bone-shaking trips, connecting New York to Philadelphia by the Old York Road.

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Chapter 10

Villages and Towns of 19th-Century Monmouth County

When Isaac grew up in the 1830s, Eatontown village had two country stores, which sold glass bottles, printed books, almanacs, horn combs, thread, calico, flannel cloth, worsted stockings, ribbons, crepe cloth, shirts, farm utensils, tobacco, snuff, pipes, cigars, rum, brandy and whiskey, chocolate, powder and flint, furs...

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Chapter 11

School Days in Monmouth

After the American Revolution, the population of Shrewsbury, which encompassed all of Monmouth and Ocean Counties, continued to expand. By 1810, there were almost 4,000 people in the area, but few schools to educate the children. Most people were illiterate, barely able to read...

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Getting About at the Shore

The New Jersey shore area was not on the transportation mainline since most travels in 1850 was between New York City, Philadelphia, and Washington, DC. Four stagecoaches seating 7 passengers left each city at 5 AM and traveled for 15 hours for a cost of $10. Each coach stopped in Trenton. A mail stagecoach could seat 6 passengers and departed at 1:00 PM for Philadelphia.

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References

Blankenship, Bob, Cherokee Roots, Vol. 1, Eastern Cherokee Rolls, Official United

States Census of the Cherokee Indians from 1817 through 1924 residing East of the Mississippi River, 1992, (Richardson, p.58, Crummel, p. 88)


Brooks, Edmonia, photos of Richardson family and St. Augustine’s Church, Asbury Park, New Jersey


Ceres, Gerald V., Images of America: Holmdel and Pleasant Valley, Acadia Press, Great Britain, 1996, Indian Hill Burial Grounds, -p. 9


Clinton, Catherine, Tara Revisited: Women, War and the Plantation Legend, Abbeville Publishers, New York, 1995, p.43-49


Cunningham, John T., This is New Jersey, Rutgers University Press, p. 189-195


Deeds of Land Transactions, Monmouth County Hall of Records, Freehold, New Jersey


De Tocqueville, Alexis, Democracy in America, 1835


Dickerson, Christina Richardson, Obituary, Neptune Times, June 14, 1979

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Discuss Cherokee Indian History With Us

Want to learn more about Cherokee Indians? Visit or call today, and speak with our representatives. We will gladly discuss more about the Cherokee Indian history with you.

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Sand Hill Indian History

P.O. Box 444

Lincroft, NJ 07738


Phone: External link opens in new tab or window732-747-5709

Email: info@sandhillindianhistory.org

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Sand Hill Indian Historical Association

Claire T. Garland, Director


Email: claire@sandhillindianhistory.org

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