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Thomas Hodgkins
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Millionaire-confectioner and original benefactor of the Emma S. Clark Memorial Library.
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Born : October 19, 1803, London, England
Died : November 23, 1892, Setauket, New York
Brief
Biography : Sent away to school in France at the age of
twelve, young Thomas Hodgkins opted instead for a life of
adventure. Signing aboard a British merchant ship while still in
his teens, Hodgkins was shipwrecked in the Bay of Bengal and
spent several weeks in a Calcutta hospital. Returning to England
he became employed in a confectioners’ shop. After marrying
and emigrating to New York City in the 1830s he set up a small
candy store which he built into a multi-million dollar candy
manufacturing business. Having taken in his two young nieces,
Annie and Emma
S. Clark, when they were
orphaned, the now-widowed Hodgkins moved in 1875 to Setauket onto
a 100-acre farm he named “Brambletye Farm”. A man of
great charity, Hodgkins made contributions in excess of $100,000
each to, among others, the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty
to Children, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty
to Animals, and the Smithsonian Institution. Following the death
of his niece, Emma S. Clark, in 1889, he donated the property,
building, fixtures, and 1,500 books from his own collection to
establish a public library in Setauket in her memory. Hodgkins
died at the age of 89, less than two months after the library was
opened. He is buried in the churchyard of the Caroline Church in
Setauket, across the street from the library he established. A
portrait of Thomas Hodgkins can be found hanging in the
Periodical Reading Room located in the original part of the
library.
Library History
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