J.J. Kerfoot enjoyed a long career as a photographer in Smiths Falls, working from approximately 1900 to 1927. He was born in Montague Township in 1867. He travelled to his uncle's in Columbus, Ohio to learn photography in 1889. According to family history, he had a studio first in Athens between 1890 and 1893 and then in Forest around 1896 before relocating back to Smiths Falls. Kerfoot also worked at the photographic studio of John Moore for a time.