author
Ellen M. Firebaugh
1858–1946
A keen observer of domestic life, she brought humor and warmth to the world of the country doctor’s household. Her books offer a lively glimpse into marriage, family, medical practice, and the everyday surprises of early telephone culture.
1 Audiobook
The story of a doctor's telephone : told by his wife
by Ellen M. Firebaugh
About the author
Born in 1858 in Robinson, Illinois, Ellen M. Firebaugh was the daughter of a family that had helped settle the area. In 1881, she married Isaac L. Firebaugh, a prominent local physician, and the couple had four children. A contemporary biographical account described her as a woman of literary tastes who contributed sketches to leading journals.
Firebaugh drew on her experiences as a physician’s wife for her best-known book, The Physician’s Wife and the Things That Pertain to Her Life, published in 1894. Written with humor and illustrated with scenes from domestic life, the book explored the pleasures, responsibilities, and frustrations surrounding a doctor’s family.
She returned to similar material in The Story of a Doctor’s Telephone—Told by His Wife, published in 1912. The book turns the newly arrived telephone into a source of comic disruption and social insight, capturing the changing rhythm of medical and family life in the early twentieth century. Ellen M. Firebaugh lived from 1858 to 1946.