Page:History of Hudson County and of the Old Village of Bergen.djvu/38

30 comprising fifty Dutch Morgen (a Dutch land measurement) for a quit rent of one penny English for each acre," and a confirmation of patent to "Isaacsen Planck for a neck of land called Paulus Hook or Aressechhonk, west of Ahasimus."

On July 30, 1673, during the second war between England and Holland, a Dutch fleet took New York, and re-christened it New Orange. Aside from changing the name and calling on all the inhabitants to swear allegiance, which they did with cheerful good will, things remained as they had been; and when the peace of 1674 definitely turned over New Netherland to England, the colonists changed flags again unruffled and—remained Dutch. The record of the Oath of Allegiance to the Dutch government enumerates "78 inhabitants of Bergen and dependencies, of whom 69 appeared at drum beat." A report of 1680 describes Bergen as "a compact town" containing about 40 families.

Gradually, to be sure, English people came in. New York was growing into a great town, and it drew merchants and adventurers from all parts, becoming indeed so metropolitan that even the pirates of the seven seas esteemed it as an excellent market for their plunder. But on the western bank of the river the old habits of Holland remained so fixed that we still find characteristic Dutch traits, Dutch architecture, even Dutch customs from the Hudson to the Ramapos.

In 1682, the Province of New Jersey was divided into four Counties—Bergen, Essex, Middlesex and Monmouth; and in 1693 each County was divided into townships. In 1714, an Act gave a new charter to "The Inhabitants of the Town of Bergen."