Jedidiah Duggar

Jedidiah in June 2022

### Appeared on

14 Children and Pregnant Again!, Raising 16 Children, 16 Children and Moving In, On the Road with 16 Children, Duggars' Big Family Album, 19 Kids and Counting, Counting On, United Bates of America

## Family Info

### Siblings

Josh Duggar, Jana Duggar, John Duggar, Jill Dillard, Jessa Seewald, Jinger Vuolo, Joe Duggar, Josiah Duggar, Joy Forsyth, Jeremiah Duggar, Jason Duggar, James Duggar, Justin Duggar, Jackson Duggar, Johannah Duggar, Jennifer Duggar, Jordyn Duggar, Josie Duggar

### Children

Truett Duggar, Nora Duggar

Jedidiah Robert "Jed" Duggar is the tenth of Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar's nineteen children. He is married to Katelyn (Nakatsu) Duggar. They have two children, Truett, and Nora.

## Early Life

Jedidiah Robert "Jed" Duggar was born on December 30, 1998, to Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar. He was the couple's tenth child, being born shortly before his twin brother, Jeremiah. The family went on to have eight more children after them.

Sometime prior to 2001, Jed's parents implemented a buddy system, where each older child was paired with a younger child to take care of. Typical tasks for an older buddy included dressing, bathing, and feeding their younger buddies. It is unknown who Jed's original older buddy was. By 2009, the family had switched from individual buddies to buddy teams, with each team being led by one of the oldest four daughters. Jed was on a team with older sister Jinger and younger sister Johannah.

### Childhood Education

Jed was homeschooled growing up; his family relied heavily on the Institute in Basic Life Principles and its Advanced Training Institute in their schooling practices. He took the test to get his GED in 2016, at eighteen years old, alongside his twin Jeremiah and older sister Joy-Anna. His family had a graduation party to celebrate this event.

## Resume

### Television Appearances

When Jed was five years old, the first of his family's television specials, *14 Children and Pregnant Again!*, aired on Discovery Health Channel. The special was followed by four more special programs about his family's life before the family became the subject of their own reality show, *17 Kids and Counting* when Jed was nine years old. This show, later titled *18* and then *19 Kids and Counting*, was canceled on July 16, 2015.

On December 14, 2015, TLC aired the first of a three-part special titled *Jill & Jessa: Counting On*. This special, which focused on Jed's sisters Jill Dillard and Jessa Seewald, was about the Duggar family moving on in the aftermath of oldest brother Josh Duggar's scandals. The show was picked up as a regular series, later renamed *Counting On*. Jed is frequently featured on this show.

### Political Career

    On January 24, 2017, Arkansas State Representative Charlene Fite shared in later-deleted a post on her Facebook page that Jed Duggar was interning at the Arkansas State House of Representatives. On his campaign website, he later referred to this position as being a legislative assistant.

On August 6, 2019, Jedidiah was a guest on the Modern Conservative Thinking podcast. In this podcast, he spoke of the importance of getting involved in local politics. He also mentioned that he interned for Bob Ballinger's 2018 senate campaign.  On his congressional campaign website, he said that he was actually the campaign manager on Bob Ballinger's 2018 campaign.

On November 1, 2019, Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reporter Doug Thompson shared on his twitter that Jed Duggar had confirmed to the paper that he was for Arkansas State House District 89 as a republican, and a formal announcement was expected soon. Jed officially announced this campaign via instagram on November 3. At that time, he launched his campaign website.

He ran against incumbent Megan Godfrey (D), the co-director of ESL for Fayetteville Schools and PhD student. Despite running negative ads and possibly violating campaign finance laws by accepting donations from a single donor over three times the legal limit.

The election was held on November 3, 2020. Jed lost by 10 percentage points.

### Champion Motorcars

On his campaign website, Jed states that he is the owner of Champion Motorcars. Jed's older brother, Josh Duggar, has himself listed as the owner of this business on his LinkedIn page, but the page is outdated so it's unknown if the two are co-owners or if Josh is no longer an owner.

## Family

### Engagement

On March 18, 2021, it was announced via the Nakatsu family blog that Jed had proposed to their daughter Katelyn on February 14, 2021.

#### Vows

At the time of their engagement, Jedidiah and Katelyn made vows to each other to stay pure and avoid any physical contact or time spent alone with each other.

#### Jedidiah's Vows

Katelyn Nakatsu, in the presence of God and our family and friends, I pledge to take you as my future wife. I have prepared my works without and made it fit for myself in the field and now prepare a home for us to live. Until that time, I pledge to sustain your good reputation by staying within the sight of others when we are together. I pledge to keep my way pure and honour you with my eyes, my mind, and my heart. I'll protect you by having no intimate physical contact, until that day when God allows, I will come receive you as my wife.

#### Katelyn's Vows

Jedidiah Duggar, I receive your pledge to marry and when the lord calls, I will be your wife. Just as the church is set apart for christ, I am now set apart for you. I pledge myself to you, forsaking all others. And just as the lord calls his bride, the church, to make herself ready, I pledge to make myself ready for the day that god shall bring us together as one. Until that day, I promise to redeem the time well by preparing for the high calling of being a noble wife, and, if it be the lords will, a godly mother someday. I pledge to you Jed to guard and strengthen my testimony of christ and to be above reproach in my thoughts, words, and actions. That you might be honoured at the city gates. As we await our lords return with patience and firm standing, I pledge to you that I will also wait patiently on the lord and upon you.

### Marriage

On April 3, 2021, Jedidiah married Katelyn Nakatsu. The wedding live-streamed over youtube.

### Fatherhood

    On September 5, 2021, Jedidiah and Katey announced on their instagram that they were expecting their first child, due in April 2022. On January 7, 2022, the two announced the baby would be a boy.

On May 3, 2022, Jedidiah and Katey announced the birth of their son Truett Oliver Duggar the previous evening. He weighed 8lbs 5 oz and was 20.5 inches long.

On December 16, 2022, Jedidiah and Katey announced via their Youtube channel that they were expecting their second child, due in May 2023 and that her name would be Nora Kate.

On June 1, 2023, Jedidiah and Katey announced via Youtube that Katey had been induced on the morning of May 24th, 2023.

## Courtship Rumors

### Kendra Caldwell

It was said by an unnamed source who claimed to be close to the Duggars that prior to her relationship with her now-husband Joseph Duggar, Jedidiah courted Kendra Caldwell. These sources and their information has never been confirmed, but have been the subject of speculation.

## Wedding Involvement

* groomsman: his brother Josh Duggar's wedding to Anna Keller (9/26/08)
* groomsman: his brother Joseph Duggar's wedding to Kendra Caldwell (9/8/17)
* groomsman: his brother Josiah Duggar's wedding to Lauren Swanson (6/30/18)
* groomsman: his friend David Keller's wedding to Hannah Reber (11/19/21)
* best man: his twin brother Jeremiah Duggar's wedding to Hannah Wissmann (3/26/22)

## References

1. ↑ http://www.quiverfull.com/articles.php/id20/
2. ↑ http://www.parenting.com/blogs/show-and-tell/duggar-family-interview-finding-me-time
3. ↑ https://www.parents.com/parenting/better-parenting/style/raising-14-kids/
4. ↑ https://www.facebook.com/duggarfamilyofficial/posts/1674132882720354
5. ↑ "Meet the Parents." *Counting On*. TLC. Silver Spring. 13 Sep. 2016. Television.
6. ↑ https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/josh-duggar-19-kids-counting-cancelled/story?id=31243623
7. ↑ https://www.cbsnews.com/news/duggar-sisters-jill-and-jessa-return-in-counting-on/
8. ↑ https://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv/jill-jessa-counting-picked-full-season-article-1.2541223
9. ↑ https://www.freejinger.org/topic/28766-duggars-by-the-dozen-parts-25-more-threads-than-duggars/?page=3
10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 https://www.jedduggar.com/meet-jed/
11. ↑ Meyers, Daniel, et al. “Simple Ways to Make a Difference.” *Modern Conservative Thinking*, Freedomists, 6 Aug. 2019, https://soundcloud.com/user-346253254/simple-ways-make-a-difference-jedidiah-duggar-guests-episode-5.
12. ↑ https://twitter.com/NWADoug/status/1190401888933548037
13. ↑ https://www.instagram.com/p/B4aaPhdgEuk/
14. ↑ https://www.meganforarkansas.com/meet-megan
15. ↑ https://onarwatch.org/duggar-illegal-donations/
16. ↑ https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2020/nov/04/legislative-race-results-for-northwest-arkansas/
17. ↑ https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshua-duggar-24ab0512/
18. ↑ https://www.nakatsus.com/katey-and-jed-engagement/
19. ↑ https://i.imgur.com/GbcMoKg.mp4
20. ↑ https://i.imgur.com/Pu8NJ0S.mp4
21. ↑ https://www.instagram.com/p/CTc1z4dvshp/?utm\_source=ig\_web\_copy\_link
22. ↑ https://imgur.com/a/Ja1Xv1y
23. ↑ https://youtu.be/6mP2UigDmdw
24. ↑ https://www.instagram.com/p/CdHtsZPMWH6/?igshid=YTM0ZjI4ZDI=
25. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=paC9So91HSg
26. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3E7xvWfqez0
27. ↑ https://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2019/04/kendra-caldwell-did-joseph-duggar-really-steal-her-from-his-brot/
28. ↑ https://imgur.com/a/sm9wgvV