George Dent was born around 1853 in North Carolina. Dent worked as a laborer and resided in Franklin County, North Carolina. Dent was charged with larceny on October 7, 1878, and sentenced to four years in the North Carolina State Penitentiary. Dent was recorded in the North Carolina State Penitentiary's Descriptive Register for the Years 1869-1884 as prisoner number 2835. In the descriptive register, Dent's race is noted as Black. Dent was twenty-five years old when he was arrested. Dent was noted as possessing no formal education, meaning he could not read or write at that time. During his incarceration, Dent was leased to the Western North Carolina Railroad Company to work on railroad construction. He died while imprisoned on August 17, 1879.