Ann Deblois

Gilbert Deblois, son of the latter was born in New York city, March 17, 1725. He became a prosperous Merchant in Boston. In 1749 he married Ann, daughter of William and Ann Holmes Coffin, and granddaughter of Nathaniel Coffin. In 1774 Gilbert Deblois was an Addresser of Hutchinson, and in 1775 an Addresser of Gage. In 1776 he went to Halifax with his younger brother Lewis, and then must have returned to New York before his departure for England, according to an account in Hutchinson's Diary.

Dec. 23, 1776—Gilbert Deblois arrived in one of the transports from New York.

While residing in Boston, Mr. Deblois planted some elms in front of the Granary, just opposite his house on Tremont Street. These famous trees afterwards became known as the Paddock elms. Mr. Deblois had asked Paddock to keep an eye to their safety, and Adino Paddock performed this duty faithfully.

In a letter written by James Murray to a friend in New York, dated September 30, 1769, he speaks of Mr. Deblois' assistance to him when he was attacked by a mob. "Mr. Deblois threw himself in my rear, and suffered not a little in my defence."

In 1778 Gilbert Deblois was proscribed and banished, and his estate confiscated. The year following he was in London and addressed the king. His death occurred in that city in 1792, aged sixty-seven.