Thomas Dodgson Sugden was born circa 1840 in England and immigrated to the United States in 1848. He fought for the Union in the Civil War, and was later an active member of 90th Regiment New York Veteran Volunteer Association and the Grand Army of the Republic (Mansfield Post 35). He resided in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn until the 1890s, when he relocated to Flushing, Queens. According to American Graphic Art, by Frank Weitenkampf, Sugden was an engraver, "who for years was in charge of the block and plate department of the Century Company." Later in life, he retired to Bridgewater, Connecticut, and died in either 1919 or 1923.