Coddington was born on July 15, 1680, in Newport in what was then the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.

[3] Her paternal grandfather was English born Benedict Arnold, president and then governor of the Colony of Rhode Island.

Content's brother, Benedict Arnold III, married Hannah Waterman King and was the father of Gen. Benedict Arnold (notorious today for his treason during the American Revolutionary War).

Together, William and Content were the parents of:[7] After her death in 1721, he married Jeanne Bernon (1696–1752) in Providence, Rhode Island on October 11, 1722.

[9] Jeanne had been born in La Rochelle, France and her father had helped establish the Cathedral of St. John in Providence.