Second of 15 children born to father's second wife. He was a farmer at Northampton, Mass until 1709, when he moved to Coventry, CT. During the years 1677 and 1679 he was paid 18 shilllngs a year for blowing the trumpet on Sunday to summon the people to church. He was constable in 1683. The following account of the death of his third wife has been preserved in Northampton: "October 9, 1710, Jedediah Strong, and wife set out early in the morning to visit their children, at Coventry; but when they came against the Falls (at South Hadley) among the broad smooth stones, the horse's feet slipped up and he fell flat on the off side and by the fall killed the woman; though she was not quite dead then, but had life in her until the next day - yet never spoke a word."
After Jedediah's wife was killed in the fall from the horse, he decided to move in with his son Preserved and wife Tabitha in Coventry, CT, where they were headed when the accident occured.