Brock, John C.

John C. Brock, who was born to William and Elizabeth Donaldson Brock on April 12, 1843, grew up in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. As a child, he attended the local African Methodist Episcopal Sabbath School. By the 1860s, Brock worked as a farm laborer and as secretary for the AME Sabbath School. In April 1864, he joined Company F of the 43rd USCT regiment. He received a promotion to commissary sergeant on April 12, 1864 and later to quartermaster sergeant on January 5, 1865. While serving with the 43rd USCT, he also worked as a wartime correspondent for the Philadelphia (PA) Christian Recorder. The paper published a series of letters in which Brock described his experience and perspective on the Civil War. After the war, Brock married Lucinda Jane Dickson on December 25, 1867 in Carlisle. They later moved to Chester County, Pennsylvania and had seven children. His son, John Robert Paul Brock, was the first black graduate of Dickinson College (Class of 1901). In the 1880s, John C. Brock became a minster of West Chester’s Bethel AME Church. He died in West Chester on August 16, 1901. (By Don Sailer)

Life Span
to
Dickinson Connection
Brock's son, John R. P. Brock (Class of 1901), was the first African American graduate at Dickinson College
Full name
John C. Brock
Place of Birth
Birth Date Certainty
Exact
Death Date Certainty
Exact
Gender
Male
Race
Black
Sectional choice
North
Origins
Free State
No. of Spouses
1
No. of Children
7
Family
William Brock (father), Elizabeth Donaldson Brock (mother), Lucinda Jane Dickson Brock (wife, 1867), John R. P. Brock (son), Ralph Elwood (son)
Education
Other
Other Education
AME Sabbath School, Carlisle, PA
Occupation
Military
Clergy
Educator
Other
Other Occupation
Farm Laborer
Relation to Slavery
Free black
Military
Union Army
Chicago Style Entry Link
Blair, William and William Pencak, eds. Making and Remaking Pennsylvania’s Civil War. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2001. view record
How to Cite This Page: "Brock, John C.," House Divided: The Civil War Research Engine at Dickinson College, https://hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu/node/32490.