Wilson Kettle

Who was Wilson Kettle?

William Wilson Kettle was a Canadian centenarian.

As did his father, who had emigrated from Dorset, England, Kettle worked as a mariner and a fisherman. At age 44, he worked as diver after the diver he had hired quit; he was 84 when he made his last dive. He owned and operated a schooner, and participated in the annual seal hunt.

Kettle married Mary Lomond on 21 October 1884. The couple had 8 children; Mary died at age 38 in 1903. Later that year, Kettle married Hannah Gilliam. The couple had five children; Hannah died in 1947 at age 71. By the time of his death, Kettle had outlived 2 of his 13 children. He had 65 grandchildren, 201 great-grandchildren, and 305 great-great-grandchildren, for a total of 582 living descendants, earning him a place in the Guinness Book of World Records.

Kettle, whose mother lived to be 108, was born and died in Grand Bay, Newfoundland.