I was talking to mother yesterday and she had out the family geneologies. She told me this story that she found in one of the histories.

One line of my ancestors is the Rogers Family. In the late 1600s one of the Rogers was a Sea Captain and then the owner of an import export business in New England. One shipment that he brought to the new world was a group of indentured servants. They mortgaged their services in return for the cost of the boat ride to the new world.

Captain Rogers bought (yes, bought and paid for) one of the women on the ship and then married her. Afterwards he often said that he never carried a richer cargo or made a better bargain than bringing his wife to the new world and paying off her indenture.

The theme of a pioneer wife or a purchased bride is very common in modern romance novels and adventure stories from the first half of the 20th century, but I can’t remember it being used much in SF. Here is a good subject for a character driven story and would make a nice novel.