This page is currently under construction...if you have anything to add to the history of Cream Ridge, please send me an e-mail. For now, all I have are some news items concerning Cream Ridge from old area newspapers. You can find them by clicking here.

According to another visitor to this site, Cream Ridge was given it's name by the Rue Family. The village was to be named Rueville, but the Rue Family much preferred the name Cream Ridge. The name was derived from the many dairy farms that were once in the area.

Nathaniel Scudder Rue, Jr. of Cream Ridge was the President of the Pemberton & Hightstown Railroad and the President of the First National Bank of Hightstown. He lived on what is now known as Wygant Road in Cream Ridge.

Some other prominent surnames in Cream Ridge included Holmes, Rue, and Meirs. The Reverend Obadiah Holmes received a land grant from the Duke of York in 1665, land that was located in what is now Upper Freehold Township, Monmouth County, NJ. The Reverend Obadiah Holmes was a Baptist Minister in Providence, RI. Although he did not live in NJ, his descendants moved to Upper Freehold Township. Descendants include Captain Jonathan Holmes (who fought in the American Revolution) for which Jonathan Holmes Road in Cream Ridge is named. One of several Joseph Holmes' was the President of the First National Bank of Hightstown; sometime later this position was held by Nathaniel Scudder Rue, Jr. The son of Nathaniel Scudder Rue, Jr., James Lawrence Rue, served in the NJ State Legislature. The Rue Family was French Huguenot (La Rue). The Meirs Family was Scottish Baptists (there is a Meirs Road in Cream Ridge). These three families are related through marriage.

Another visitor to this site provided some more detail recently on just how these familes are related:
Nathaniel Scudder Rue, Jr. married Mary Holmes. NSR Jr. was the founder and first president of the Pemberton & Hightstown Railroad and the founder and first president of the First National Bank of Hightstown. Mary Holmes was the daughter of Joseph Holmes, Sr. and Martha Ann Meirs. Joseph Holmes, Jr., brother of Mary Holmes, was a later president of the First National Bank of Hightstown. NSR Jr. donated the land on which the Cream Ridge Cemetery is located. The Cemetery was associated with the former Cream Ridge Presbyterian Church, which now houses two condo units and is situated directly across Burlington Path Road. Prior to moving to Cream Ridge, NSR Jr. owned a hotel in Freehold and a stagecoach line.

The Meirs family was Presbyterian, not Baptist. Christopher Meirs of Freehold, NJ was the first to come to America – in approximately 1720. The first Rue (La Rue) in America was Matthew La Rue who arrived in Perth Amboy in 1685.
Cream Ridge was in the Colony of East Jersey – settled primarily by Baptists from New England, the Dutch and Huguenots from greater NY – Dutch Reformed, and by Presbyterian Scots. Crosswicks, located only a few miles away, was in the Colony of West Jersey – the first Quaker colony in America. As such, there were ethnic and religious differences between the two colonies and the residents often did not mix. The two colonies were merged to become the Colony of New Jersey in 1702.

The location of what is often called “Lincoln’s Forge” at the corner of Burlington Path Road and Harvey Road used to be known as Fillmore. It was named after President Fillmore. Prior to that, it was called Varmintown. The Post Office for the area used to be in Fillmore but was later moved ˝ a mile to Cream Ridge. The Cream Ridge Post Office was formerly part of a small general store opposite the Cream Ridge Cemetery. It was in that location until the early 1970s.

The famous landscape artist George Henry Durrie spent time in Freehold and Cream Ridge in the early 1840s painting portraits (this was before he joined Currier & Ives in NYC). He painted portraits of members of the Meirs, Rue, Lawrence and the Conover (Van Kouwenhoven) families, among others. Painting portraits was often the only way for an artist to survive in the first half of the 19th Century.

General James Cox was a resident of nearby Cox’s Corners – their plantation was called Box Grove. General James Cox held the rank of Major in the Revolutionary War but was later promoted to Brigadier General in the NJ State Militia. He served in the State Assembly, was Speaker of the State Assembly and was elected to the US Congress. He married Ann Borden Potts who was a direct descendent of Joseph Borden, the founder of Bordentown, NJ. Two of her second cousins, Mary Borden and Anne Borden, married Signers of the Declaration of Independence – Thomas McKean (PA) and Francis Hopkinson (NJ).

This link has some good information about the town and the Meir and Holmes families. (Thanks to David and Laura for the link)

Another family associated with Cream Ridge is the Burtis Family. A recent visitor to this site, David, provided me with this info:
The Burtis family of Cream Ridge is descended from Peter Caesar Alberti, the first Italian in New York City. Peter Caesar Alberti was from a well-off family in Venice, Italy. He became a Calvinist and moved to Holland. From there he sailed to New Amsterdam where he arrived on June 2, 1635. The name changed from Alberti to Albertus & Alburtus and eventually Burtis in Central NJ. June 2nd is Alberti Day in New York