trent was born in 1715 in lancaster, pennsylvania (then described as western pennsylvania in historic accounts) as the youngest child and son of william trent, a prominent merchant and trader in philadelphia, pennsylvania and his second wife, mary coddington, who was 25 years younger than her husband. the second son born to mary coddington trent, william was her only child to survive to adulthood. her first son died in infancy. trent's father had four children with his first wife, mary burge trent, who had died in 1708. they were james, john, maurice, and mary trent.