Steve Weinshel is the maternal great-great-great grandson of Dr. Godfrey Howitt (1800-1873), the younger brother of author William Howitt (1792-1879). Weinshel shares events from the lives of his distant uncle and aunt, William and Mary Botham Howitt, who were Victorian writers, journalists, translators, and adventurers, and intimate friends of such celebrities as Charles Dickens, Hans Christian Andersen, and Frederick Douglass. During the gold rush in Australia (1851), William and two of his sons went to Australia and lived with Godfrey, hoping to make a fortune. One of the sons, Alfred, went on to lead the recovery of the famous Burke & Wills Expedition and later became known as an anthropologist.

Works by William Howitt, such as “Colonization and Christianity” (1838) can be accessed on Gutenberg.

Mary Howitt’s most famous poem “The Spider and the Fly” (pages 49-53) in “The New Year’s Gift and Juvenile Souvenir” (1829) can be accessed on Hathi Trust. A recent illustrated version is read here.

These and other works by the couple are also available to read for free on Gutenberg.org, Google Books, and Hathi Trust.