[nicmarlo]

A child born "to he and his wife"----I was thought that one uses "him" following a preposition. "To him and his wife"--

You are correct, of course, MHT. But I always learned it this other way: for example, "A child born to him" (would therefore also be "to him and his wife"). Another example, third person: "The administration has given us</> students no alternative" (as opposed to "we." Remove "students" and you'd see "we" would be wrong "the administration has given we no alternative"). I was taught to complete a sentence with/without the word(s) in question.

[MHT]

It's a question of proper case, which students don't learn anymore because few English teachers show students how to diagram sentences or how to memorize grammar rules. Furthermore, few students take Latin, which also emphasizes the importance of case agreement.

"Him" is objective case, which is used following a preposition. For example, "Give it to me" ("me" is objective)--and, obviously, "Give it to I" would cause heads to turn!