Sarah Kerfoot

Sarah Kerfoot (1855 - 1943) was the wife of George Dennison (1856 - 1931). She arrived in Carrigart as a school teacher in the early 1880s. According to the late Bill McFadden of Ballyoghan, Rosapenna, she was the first trained school teacher in the parish of Mevagh. It is certain that she was the first teacher in the new National School in Bohuny (Umlagh) when it opened in 1886. She married George Dennison shortly after that and retired from teaching. They lived initially in Aughadachor in a house owned by Spears (near where the new houses are) - before moving into the Denniston family home in Drimdutton.

Family tradition has it that Sarah was from Avoca, Co. Wicklow and that she trained as a Teacher with the Sisters of Mercy (possibly at their house at Baggot Street, Dublin). Church records in Carrigart show that Sarah's father was William Kerfoot from "Raheny, near Dublin". A search of the census records for Raheny in 1901 and 1911 record a William and his son, James, living at St. Anne's in Raheny North. This would most likely have been on the estate of Lord Ardilaun, a member of the Guinness family. That family also had estates in Wicklow so it is possible that the family moved to Raheny to remai working for the Guinness family. In the census James is described as a farm labourer who could not read or write.