The Tragic Story of Little Maud Gough

Among the many monuments in Henderson’s Fernwood Cemetery, few are as touching as the one marking the grave of Maud Gough. Her memorial features a nearly life-sized sculpture of a young girl standing in a dress, her likeness preserved in stone more than 130 years after her death.

Maud was born November 8, 1883, the daughter of Robert and Isabelle Schopflin Gough. The family lived on Second Street, where her father operated a grocery business. Robert Gough began working as a Henderson grocer in 1885 and later ran a well-known store at 601 Second Street.

Tragedy struck the Gough home on the afternoon of October 8, 1891. According to a contemporary newspaper account, seven-year-old Maud was playing with matches when one ignited her dress. With her clothing in flames, she ran screaming from the house.

A neighbor, James Sandefur, rushed to her aid and extinguished the fire by wrapping her in a blanket. Despite his efforts and the assistance of a physician, Maud’s injuries were too severe. She died at about eight o’clock that evening.

Maud was laid to rest in Fernwood Cemetery. The side of her monument bears the comforting words, “Safe in the Arms of Jesus.” Visitors continue to place flowers and rosaries in the statue’s hands, quietly showing that Henderson has not forgotten the little girl whose brief life ended so tragically.

The monument is more than an impressive example of nineteenth-century cemetery art. It gives a face to a child whose story might otherwise have disappeared with time and preserves the love and grief of the family who lost her.