The first European colonist in the area was Mahlon Stacy, a Quaker immigrant from England, who built a home on the site circa 1680. After his death, Stacy’s son sold 800 acres to William Trent, a wealthy shipping merchant based in Philadelphia, in 1714. Trent added property to include virtually all of what is now the city of Trenton.
Trent as a Man of Business and Politics
The son of William Trent of Inverness, William Trent’s date of birth is uncertain. Some sources indicate that he was born about 1653-1655 in the Scottish Highlands; others attribute the date of his birth to 1666 when he was baptized at South Leith in southeast Scotland. Exactly when he emigrated to the American colonies is also unknown. Based on Philadelphia tax rolls in 1693, we know that he had followed his brother James to the American Colonies. William Trent became a very successful and wealthy merchant in Philadelphia, trading with Great Britain and the English colonies on the mainland and in the West Indies. At one time he owned an interest in over forty ships, exporting such products as tobacco, flour, and furs, while importing wine, rum, molasses, and dry goods.
While a resident of the New Jersey colony, Trent was elected to the Assembly, commissioned a colonel in one of the militia regiments, and in 1723 became New Jersey’s first resident Chief Justice.
Wealth Created from Slavery
Slavery was central to Trent's wealth. Trent was active in the slave trade, buying and selling enslaved people of African descent. We know of thirteen such transactions with other prominent Philadelphia men in just the few years (1703-1708) covered by trade ledgers in the archives of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. Several of these transactions are illustrated below and a complete listing can be seen here.
⅓ of his movable property/wealth was tied into slavery.
The Trent Family
In the 1690s he married his first wife, Mary Burge, with whom he had three children, James, John, and Maurice. Apparently it was through her family connections that William Trent eventually acquired the land at the Falls of the Delaware River where he would build his country seat. She died, perhaps in childbirth, in 1708, and a contemporary noted in a letter to William Penn that Trent was greatly affected by her death.
In 1710 Trent married his second wife, Mary Coddington, who was in her late teens at the time of her marriage. Born into a wealthy family, she was the stepdaughter of Anthony Morris, a prosperous Philadelphia brewer and merchant who was a business associate and contemporary of her new husband.
In 1711, Mary Coddington Trent gave birth to a son, Thomas, who died that same year. Another son, William, was born in 1715 and survived. The couple and Trent’s children from his previous marriage continued to live in Philadelphia as their primary residence until 1721, when Trent made his plantation on the Falls of the Delaware his permanent home for himself, his second wife, and his youngest son.
After Trent's Death
Trent’s oldest son, James, inherited his father’s entire estate when Trent died without a will. Mary Coddington Trent renunciated her role as executor in March of 1725 so she could obtain her dower rights by suing her stepson James. She hired well known Philadelphia attorney John Kinsey to sue for one-third part of the income from four messuages (dwelling houses with considerable land), three grist mills, one saw mill, one fulling mill, one bake house, one dye house, one ferry house, half an ironwork, one barn, three gardens, two orchards, thirty acres of meadowland, three hundred acres of pastureland, and two hundred acres of woodland.
Mary won her court case in 1728. Her stepson James and subsequently William Morris, her half-brother, had to pay the mortgage on the estate to her from 1729-1735. This included profits and ownership of the mills and other industries on the property. She sold all rights to most of these properties to George Thomas in 1735. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Mary Coddington Trent never remarried, thus retaining control over her property until she died on December 15, 1772, in her 80s. Her death is recorded in the register of Saint Michael’s Church and she is most likely buried in the Hopewell Church Burying Ground on the site of the modern day Trenton Psychiatric Hospital.
Trent's Inventory
A probate inventory of Trent's estate, completed in 1726, listed the furnishings of the House as well as other items on the plantation. Included on the inventory was an “Account of Negroes” that included eleven enslaved people – six men (Yaff, Julius, Bossin, Harry, Cupid, and Pedro), one woman (Joan), two boys (Bob and Dick), one girl (Nanny), and one male child (Tom). For more information see our work on slavery interpretation.
Yaff, who we believe was Trent’s butler and valet, was sold to James Alexander of New York, one of the executors of Trent’s estate. In June 1729 he sought his freedom by escaping. Alexander took an advertisement in the New York Gazette, offering a reward of 4 pounds for his return. The advertisement, shown below with a transcription, provides us with some details of Yaff’s age, personal history, skills, and personality. Unfortunately, we do not know if he was captured or remained free.
In March of 1737, two enslaved African men were arrested in Trenton for "practising poison," citing among their victims William Trent. They were found guilty and hanged. It is not known if Trent was actually murdered, or if his sudden death was later used by these men as “proof” of the efficacy of their poison. For more information on this case, the question of whether Trent was poisoned, and the laws under which the men were charged and executed, see here
Major William Trent, Trent’s youngest son by his marriage to Mary Coddington, led a fascinating life. He was a fur trader, military leader, and land speculator on the colonial frontier. He, along with young Colonel George Washington, was sent by the Royal Governor of Virginia to establish a fort at the Forks of the Ohio River near what is now Pittsburgh to defend English control of the frontier from the French.
The Trent House is honored to own his silk waistcoat, worn at the Court of St. James in 1769, as he sought repayment for losses he and other traders experienced during the French and Indian War. While the waistcoat itself is in storage, visitors to the Museum can see close-up photographs of it on display.
1719 William Trent House Museum
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William Trent House Museum
Located at: 15 Market Street, Trenton, NJ 08611 Mailing address: P.O. Box 77234, Trenton, NJ 08628 Email address: [email protected]
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Hours of Operation
Wednesdays – Sundays 1:00 pm – 4:30 pm Closed Municipal Holidays Admissions Adults: $5.00 Children and Seniors: $4.00 Members: FREE |
Museum
(609) 989-3027 Trent House Association (609) 989-0087 Additional Information Accessibility Parking Groups or Special Tours Directions Volunteer
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