Van Bergen moved to Brooklyn Heights with his brother John Peck Van Bergen. He worked for the Arnold Constable &amp; Co., a department store chain in the New York City. He permanently moved to Paris where he became the representative of the firm abroad under his firm, A. Van Bergen &amp; Company of New York. All three of his children were born in Paris. He was also the foreign representative for the Equitable Life Assurance Society, a large American insurance company, for which he served on the board of directors for many years. He was an American Commissioner to the Paris exhibitions of 1878 and 1889.