Biography of 	Block, John T. Orleans Parish, Louisiana 
Submitted by 	Mike Miller November 1997

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    John T. Block, a public weigher and gauger in the sugar and molasses
business of New Orleans, is a native of Missouri.  He was born at Cape
Girardeau on the 1st of April, 1835.  At the early age of eleven years
John T. Block was left wholly an orphan, his father dying in 1846, and
his mother when he was an infant.  He was then left to the care of his
uncle, John Juden, who brought him to New Orleans, his place of
residence.  Mr. Block attended the public schools of New Orleans until
he was twelve years old, when with the idea of mastering the printer's
trade he entered the office of Hinton & Bros., but before two years had
elapsed he was compelled to discontinue on account of his health.  He
afterward procured a clerkship with W. H. Bunnell, with whom he served a
year, leaving to accept a more remunerative and better position offered
by William L. Robinson, with whom he remained until reaching the age of
twenty-one, when, at the suggestion of his friend and employer, he
launched out for himself as a weigher and gauger, and as such has
remained until the present time, with the exception of the four years of
the war.  The firm was first known as Rolf & Block, then Engelhardt &
Block, Block & Gerard, and now John T. Block & Co.   Upon the war cloud
bursting over the country, Mr. Block answered the call and joined
Company B, Louisiana guard, First regiment, Louisiana volunteers; said
regiment left for Virginia on the 28th day of April, 1861.  In August of
the same year the company became an artillery company in Stonewall
Jackson's corps, and was then known as the Louisiana Guard artillery.
He remained a member of this company through the war until the surrender
at Appomattox, and was in all the many battles that the guards were
engaged in but that of Chancellorsville, being absent on furlough.  He
was never sick, wounded, or taken prisoner.  He is a member of the
Benevolent Association Army of Northern Virginia, and has held the
position of treasurer of said association for the past eleven years.  He
is also a member of the United Confederate Veterans, and one of the
board of governors of the Southern Historical association, and is
intimately connected with many other enterprises of New Orleans.  In
1866 he was married to Miss M. Celeste Dimitry, daughter of the late
Prof. M. Dracos Dimitry, who was well known in educational and literary
circles.  Mr. and Mrs. Block have five children: Theo. H., John T. Jr.,
Celeste M., Walter B. and Susie D.
 
 From Biographical and Historical Memoires of Louisiana, volume 2, p.
298. 
Submitted by Mike Miller