Joseph-François Deblois (April 2, 1797 – August 10, 1860) was a lawyer, judge and political figure in

Lower Canada The Province of Lower Canada (french: province du Bas-Canada) was a British colony on the lower Saint Lawrence River and the shores of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence (1791–1841). It covered the southern portion of the current Province of Quebec an ...

. He was born in the town of

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

in 1797, the son of a merchant, and studied at the

Petit Séminaire de Québec Petite or petite may refer to: *Petit (crater), a small, bowl-shaped lunar crater on Mare Spumans * ''Petit'' (EP), a 1995 EP by Japanese singer-songwriter Ua * Petit (typography), another name for brevier-size type *Petit four * Petit Gâteau *P ...

. He served in the local militia during the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It bega ...

. After his father's death in 1814, he helped his mother to run the family store while he studied law with

Louis Lagueux Louis Lagueux (November 20, 1793 – June 15, 1832) was a lawyer and political figure in Lower Canada. He was born in the town of Quebec in 1793, the son of merchant Louis Lagueux and Louise Bégin, whose father Charles Bégin served in the ...

; Deblois was called to the bar in 1826. With his brother, he set up a herring fishery at Baie de Cascapédia in the Gaspé region. Deblois also began practicing law in the region and set up a farm there. In 1834, he was elected to the

Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada The Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada was the lower house of the bicameral structure of provincial government in Lower Canada until 1838. The legislative assembly was created by the Constitutional Act of 1791. The lower house consisted of ele ...

for Bonaventure. A few years later, he moved his law practice to Quebec. In 1849, he was named a circuit judge for Gaspé district, which also included the

Îles de la Madeleine The Magdalen Islands (french: Îles de la Madeleine ) are a small archipelago in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence with a land area of . While part of the Province of Quebec, the islands are in fact closer to the Maritime provinces and Newfoundland tha ...

, and settled at Percé. He also served as president of the Société d'agriculture de Gaspé. After the post of circuit judge was abolished in 1857, Deblois retired and settled at Quebec, where he died in 1860.

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* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Deblois, Joseph-Francois 1797 births 1860 deaths Members of the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada Canadian judges People from Quebec City Province of Canada judges 19th-century Canadian judges