Journal of Captain William Trent from Logstown to Pickawillany, A. D. 1752. Together with Letters of Governor Robert Dinwiddie. With a Short Biography ... Trent, and Other Papers Never Before Printed
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William Trent was a fur trader and merchant based in colonial Pennsylvania.
Background
William Trent was born probably on February 13, 1715 in Philadelphia, Pa. He was the son of Mary (Coddington) and William Trent who had emigrated from Scotland and become a prominent citizen and officeholder, first in Pennsylvania and later in New Jersey.
Trent senior founded Trenton, New Jersey by buying a large tract of land in 1714 below the falls of the Delaware River and developing his country house there. Moving to the new site in 1721 with his family, Trent also platted the town around his house. The young Trent grew up with his father's wealth, gained from trading and shipping in furs, dry goods and slaves, with merchants and interests in the North American and Caribbean colonies, and England. His father had interests in 40 ships. His father served in the provincial governments in both Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
Career
In 1746 the younger Trent was appointed captain in the Pennsylvania troops raised for an expedition against the French in Canada, and he spent several months in 1746 and 1747 on the New York frontier north of Albany. He attended councils with the Indians at Logstown in 1752, at Easton in 1757, and at Fort Pitt in 1759.
While at Logstown in 1752 he was directed by the Virginia commissioners to proceed with Andrew Montour to Pickawillanee, a village of the Twightwee, or Miami, Indians, with presents. He kept a journal of the expedition, which is available in published form (post).
He lived in Lancaster and in Carlisle, Pa. , and from 1768 to 1784 his home was in Trenton, N. J. , where he was a vestryman in the St. Michael's Episcopal Church. In 1754, acting upon the authority of Governor Dinwiddie of Virginia, he raised a force and undertook the construction of a fort at the forks of the Ohio. When, in his absence, the post was captured by the French before its completion and renamed Fort Duquesne, he was blamed.
In 1758 he accompanied John Forbes's successful expedition against Duquesne, which later became Fort Pitt. During these years, he had also been engaged in the Indian trade. About 1749 he had formed a partnership with George Croghan, a connection that lasted five years or more. In 1754 he and his associates suffered heavy losses from French and Indian depredations along the Ohio. About 1760 he became a member of the Pennsylvania trading firm of Simon, Trent, Levy & Franks, being stationed at Fort Pitt. Again Trent and his partners suffered severe losses during Pontiac's uprising.
Many years were spent by Trent and others in endeavoring to obtain restitution for the losses of 1754 and 1763, and out of these efforts grew his career as a land speculator. At the treaty of Fort Stanwix in 1768, along with Samuel Wharton and George Morgan, he obtained from the Six Nations, by way of compensation, a grant of a vast tract along the upper Ohio that became known as "Indiana. " Early in 1769 he accompanied Wharton to England, to try to obtain royal confirmation of the grant. The Indiana enterprise was merged with the larger Vandalia project, involving a still greater extent of territory and the participation of many prominent Englishmen and Americans. The royal authorization was never obtained, and early in 1775 he returned to America, where he endeavored to make good the Indiana claim by establishing the principle of the validity of titles obtained from the Indians by private purchase. Meetings of the Indiana Company were held, and in 1779 he presented its claims before the Virginia Assembly, but without success. He then directed his efforts toward Congress and during the period 1779 to 1783 presented several memorials relating to both the Indiana and Vandalia projects, but to no avail. The enterprise failed and after 1783, little more is heard of Trent.
In 1784 he removed to Philadelphia, where he died.