When Datus Sperry moved west with his family from New York State to the vicinity of Detroit, he may not have thought of a wife. When Rachel Schroeder had moved west from Germany with her family to the same neighborhood, she certainly had not thought of a husband, for she was just a baby, but Fate already had them cinched.

They met there, but the time was not yet right. Datus and brother, Myles, decided that Montana needed their exploring, and it was seven years before he got around to proposing by mail. Rachel, still available, was quickly aboard a train, and they married at Ft. Benton in 1...