William Trent I

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For the American military leader, see William Trent III

William Trent (1653?-December 25, 1724) was a prominent merchant in Pennsylvania and New Jersey around the turn of the 18th century. Little detail is known of his life including exactly when he was born. He is believed to have been born in Scotland around 1653. By 1693, he had moved to Philadelphia and became quite wealthy, eventually being one of the most affluent in the city.

In 1719, Trent built a country house along the Delaware River in central New Jersey. The town that grew up around his house eventually came to be named after him: Trenton, the future state capital. In the Battle of Trenton during the American Revolutionary War, the house was used by Hessian officers fighting for the British and was attacked by Continental Army troops.

William Trent died on Christmas Day on 1724, probably of a stroke; however, three slaves were arrested and hanged in 1737, allegedly for poisoning him.