Vandalia: The Rise and Fall of Major William Trent’s Proposed Colony

Despite being a third generation merchant and the son of Trenton’s namesake, Major William Trent’s life has been all but forgotten in history. A veteran of three different wars and factor for the most powerful land speculating agency in the colonies, Trent’s ambitions reached new heights just as another conflict brought the world to its knees. On the eve of the American Revolution, this was the story of how William Trent along with Ben Franklin and others went before the “Cockpit” in London to gain approval for a fourteenth colony and cemented his legacy as one of the most influential figures of westward expansion during the eighteenth century. Please join us as author and research consultant for the William Trent House Jason Cherry recounts William Trent’s critical role in this forgotten aspect of our history.

Jason A. Cherry is a native of Butler, Pennsylvania and 2002 graduate of the University of Massachusetts, Jason Cherry has reenacted the French and Indian War for over thirty years portraying the group of volunteers hired under William Trent Jr in 1754, a unit known as Captain William Trent’s Company. Currently he is the “research consultant” for the William Trent House in Trenton, NJ and works as an Assistant Group Supervisor for Stepping Stones Children’s Center in Gibsonia, PA. On March 13, 2024 his new book and biography “William Trent: Factor of Ambition” was released and met with rave reviews. He appeared in May of 2019 on Pennsylvania Cable Network (PCN) as the featured author of “Pittsburgh’s Lost Outpost: Captain Trent’s Fort” recently published in 2019 on the hour-long show “PA Books”. He has also consulted on the nonfiction book Young Washington by Peter Stark a 2019 George Washington Book Prize finalist.

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This program is presented on ZOOM by the New Jersey State Library.