Happy New Year Everyone,
Now that it’s 2026, the year we’ll celebrate America’s #250thAnniversary I’m going to start sharing some stories of our #revolutionarywar veterans.

Jedediah Jepherson and his Memorial Pine Tree –at South Douglas Cemetery

Jedediah was the son of Joseph Jepherson and Mehitable Cummings born September 19, 1758 in Gloucester, Providence, Rhode Island, British Colonial America.

Jedediah registered for military service in 1776. He was a private in Capt. Jonathan Carrier’s company, Col. Josiah Whitney’s regiment. His military service included three months, Camp at Hull, from August 1, 1776, to November 1, 1776, He also served an additional 1 month and 4 days in November 1776, including 75 Miles travelled home. He enlisted again on July 22, 1777 for six months.

He married twice, First to Susanna Emerson on 28 October 1781, in Uxbridge, MA and the couple went on to have several children. He later married Jerusha Cox and had two more children.

Before Jedediah’s death at age 86, he made a request of his friend and fellow soldier George Baker, instead of a stone memorial Jedediah simply wished that a tree be planted to mark his final resting place, saying “That is all the monument I want”. And so after he passed on July 23 1845 and was interred in the earth of South Douglas Cemetery, his wish was carried out and for more than 100 years the towering pine stood sentinel over the grave of Jedidiah Jepherson. It was described in the June 6, 1921 edition of the Worcester Telegram as being “very prominent with three parts branching out from a six foot trunk with a circumference of 14 feet.”
The article notes that one of Jedediah’s descendants was Lucius J Marsh. Sadly, the great memorial tree is no longer. Local Historian Lucius J Marsh Jr notes in his documentation of South Street and South Douglas Cemetery that the tree was removed sometime in the 1930s. I surmise this could possibly have been due to the widespread devastation caused throughout the town by the hurricane of 1938, or another reason. Today the exact location where the tree once stood– and therefore also that of the grave of Jedidiah is today unknown.