Precious Memories: FHU Legacy Families Cherish Historical Connections

During the fall of 1897, a young woman named Laura Ida Smith attended a business institution called Georgie Robertson Christian College in Henderson, Tennessee. In the fall of 2024—127 years later—her great-great-great-grandson, Braden Williams, became a student at the same school, now renamed Freed-Hardeman University. A great many things have changed about the town, the campus, classroom facilities, academic offerings and school traditions over the years. But the core values of God, family and community are what have sustained the school’s heritage, creating Freed-Hardeman University’s first recorded six-generation family legacy.

Where It All Began

The earliest school catalog in the FHU archives lists the approximately 200 students enrolled in Georgie Robertson Christian College during the 1897-98 school year. Laura Smith, from Enville, Tennessee, was counted among them. She would have been one of the first students to attend classes in the “new college building” that was completed that same year. The catalog describes the new facility as “a handsome, two-story, brick building, modern in every respect.” This building would later be known as Milan Sitka.

During Smith’s time, the president of the school was A.G. Freed, and N.B. Hardeman was serving as a teacher of history, geography and arithmetic. Twelve more individuals rounded out the list of faculty members that year, and tuition was set at “$25 for a term of five months.”

For those prospective students unfamiliar with Henderson and Chester County, the area was advertised in the following way: “The town is situated in a beautiful forest of young oak trees. Its gentle slopes, its neat cottage homes, its grassy lawns give the town an appearance of contentment and cheerfulness that is well calculated to produce the same feeling in the minds of the young. The very atmosphere the student breathes inspires him to a higher and nobler life.”

Building a Family Legacy

The extended Williams family celebrates Braden at the Legacy Pinning Ceremony

In 1900, Laura Smith married Dr. Joseph Anderson, a local medical doctor, and the two settled on Third Street, directly across from N.B. Hardeman’s famous horse stables and pasture. Five of the Andersons’ children later followed in their mother’s footsteps to attend the same school, which had become Freed-Hardeman College by 1919.

The union of Laura’s daughter Irene with J.E. (Eural) Williams, the two meeting at Freed-Hardeman in 1924, would bring the Anderson family together with another family who was also destined to have strong FHU ties.

Over the next century, Freed-Hardeman would eventually become home, not only to Laura Anderson’s five children, but also to five grandchildren, five great-grandchildren, nine great-great-grandchildren and, as of this fall, one great-great-great grandchild.

Honoring Heritage

Only known photo of Laura Ida Smith (top right) with her parents and siblings

During the FHU Homecoming 2024 Legacy Student Pinning Ceremony, freshman Braden Williams was recognized as the first recorded sixth-generation student in Freed-Hardeman’s history—exactly 100 years after his great-great-grandmother, Irene, first entered the school. Braden’s grandfather, Don Williams, served as the ceremony’s keynote speaker.

Even Williams was initially unaware that his family history stretched all the way back to the nineteenth century. “I did not realize my great-grandmother went to school here in 1897, and I did not find that out until Lisa Beene, my first cousin, did some research and shared their story,” he said.

Beene, a 1981 FHU alumna and longtime faculty member in the FHU Department of Behavioral Sciences, has worked hard to compile as much Anderson/Williams family history as she could find. She also credits her own mother Jane Williams Miller, who worked for many years as an FHU librarian, and her cousin Laquita Williams Thomson, professor emerita of the FHU Fine Arts Department, with much of this historical research.

Freed-Hardeman College diplomas of Irene Anderson and Eural Williams--great-great-grandparents of freshman Braden Williams

Many scrapbooks full of weathered newspaper clippings, old photographs, diplomas and even some original school report cards help document their fascinating family stories. One saved newspaper from 1942 reports the death of Lieutenant Joe Earl Anderson, Laura Anderson’s youngest son, who was the first casualty from Chester County during World War II. His funeral, held in Old Chapel Hall, was conducted by Bro. N.B. Hardeman and Bro. C.P. Roland.

Stories like these have become very familiar to Beene and her family. “Not only did I grow up in Henderson as a child, but my grandmother was here, my great-grandmother was here,” Beene recounts. “So I’ve always heard bits and pieces of Freed-Hardeman history. But the older I’ve gotten, the more I realized I needed to pay more careful attention.”

Passing the Torch

In addition to Braden Williams, the recent pinning ceremony also recognized another freshman student with historical ties to the school. Mason Weddle, an aspiring youth and family ministry major from Newburgh, Indiana, is the great-great-grandson of H.A. Dixon, who served as president of Freed-Hardeman College from 1950-69.

Newspaper from 1942 reporting the death of Lieutenant Joe Earl Anderson, the first casualty from Chester County during World War II

Though Mason did consider other colleges, he says that he was influenced by his family’s love of FHU and the many stories his parents told him about their memorable times as students. “It is awesome to think that I have such a strong connection with this place,” he said. “There is a bit of pressure that I have to do well because my family has a Freed-Hardeman president in its line, but I think that it is good pressure! I know that my family will always be there for me, no matter what happens.”

After his first full semester, Mason shared that the relationships he has formed are the most meaningful aspect of his experience thus far. “The community at FHU is truly something else. It is awesome to be in such a place where almost everyone has a connection with God somehow. I have made some great friends, and we have a blast together.”

Mason Weddle, great-great-grandson of H.A. Dixon, with his parents, Kevin and Allison Weddle

Braden, who plans to major in kinesiology, cites a similar experience and is now excited to make his own college memories. “So far the most meaningful things to me while being at Freed-Hardeman are the Christian friendships I have made—playing intramurals, attending second floor Benson suite devos, and most importantly being a member of Phi Kappa Alpha,” he said. “My dad and uncles told me stories of living on second floor Benson and some of the late night shenanigans they would participate in but also some of the incredible brother-like bonds they made with the guys in their dorm. These are the kinds of memories I’ve been looking forward to for so long.”

Onward and Upward

Since the school’s earliest years working out of a single building with students boarding in local family homes, to the current sprawling campus full of high tech classrooms, comfortable dormitories and modern amenities, Freed-Hardeman University has experienced a significant amount of change. However, it is a comfort to know that some of the most important aspects of its heritage have not changed.

“FHU keeps getting bigger and bigger, but I hope it will never outlive the small town home feeling that students have here,” Don Williams said, contemplating Freed-Hardeman’s future. “My hope is that FHU will always adhere to the old paths of God's word in everything they do. Whether it be morals, principles, values or Christian conduct—may they always heed God's word and let it be the one and only thing that dictates its rules, values and standards of Christian living.”

For Lisa Beene, her personal family legacy with the school can be summed up in one word: connections. “Whenever I climb the steps in Old Main and I feel those indentations, I think about how many feet have walked up those steps. I feel a very strong sense of connections to people who were here before and who are still here now. That’s part of the real success of Freed-Hardeman. It allows people to make connections that go through time and that spread around the world.”

Young Laura Ida Smith had no idea of the impact that her educational choices would make on scores of family members who would come after her. But for families like the Andersons, the Williamses, the Dixons and many others with similar stories, Freed-Hardeman has now become a foundational part of their heritage.

As Braden Williams embarks on his journey at Freed-Hardeman, his story becomes the latest chapter in a legacy that began over a century ago. Stories like these illustrate how FHU is more than a university—it is a place where faith, education and relationships converge to create lifelong connections. Each new generation builds on this foundation, ensuring that the spirit of FHU remains alive for decades to come.