William Trent (Trenton)

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For his son the merchant and militia leader, see William Trent

William Trent (c. 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 early 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. He served on the Pennsylvania Provincial Council beginning in 1704, was appointed to the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, and was elected to the Assembly and served as its Speaker.

He had four children by Mary Burge Trent, his first wife, and two by his second wife, Mary Coddington Trent, the youngest of which was William Trent, born in 1715.

In 1719, Trent built a country house along the Delaware River in central New Jersey. The town that grew up around his house came to be known as Trent Town, and later 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 for allegedly poisoning him.