author
Ellen M. Firebaugh
Best known for warm, observant books about the everyday world around a country doctor, these early 20th-century stories mix humor, domestic detail, and a close view of medical life at home.
1 Audiobook
The Story of a Doctor's Telephone—Told by His Wife
by Ellen M. Firebaugh
About the author
Ellen M. Firebaugh was an American writer remembered for books that grew out of life in a physician's household. Auction and library records identify her as Ellen Firebaugh (1858–1946), and connect her with Dr. Isaac L. Firebaugh, a general practitioner in Robinson, Illinois.
Her best-known works include The Physician's Wife and the Things that Pertain to Her Life and The Story of a Doctor's Telephone: Told by His Wife. Those titles suggest what makes her writing appealing: she looked at medicine from the family side, turning late-night calls, household duties, and small-town routines into lively, often humorous scenes.
Today, Firebaugh's books survive through major library collections and digital editions, which have helped modern readers rediscover her as a sharp, engaging voice from an earlier era of American medical and domestic life.