Thomas Oliver Nock was born in Delaware on September 3, 1862, the son of Thomas P. and Elizabeth W. Nock. After earning a pharmacy degree from the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, he attended Jefferson Medical College. He graduated in 1886 and practiced medicine in Philadelphia into the mid-20th century. On November 25, 1886, he married Attie O. Lindale of Kent County Delaware. They had one daughter, Roberta. Nock married a woman named Annie around 1893, and they had two children, Anna and Emma.
From the guide to the Thomas O. Nock notebooks, Nock, Thomas O. notebooks, 1884-1890, (William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan)