The Remarkable Life of Dr. Mabel E. Elliott—A Biography by G.L. Pedersen
Bravery. Dedication. Perseverance.
NOW AVAILABLE in softcover, hardcover, ebook and audiobook
“Pedersen offers an excellent account of Elliott’s experiences that are the clear result of impressive detective work… an inspiring reminder of how a single person’s effort can have enormous effects and one that will certainly resonate in today’s world of refugee crises. Our verdict—GET IT.” —Kirkus Reviews
For fans of The Doctors Blackwell and A Woman of No Importance comes the story of Dr. Mabel E. Elliott, who cared for thousands of Armenian and Greek refugees through bullets, blizzards, and deadly disease following World War I. She continued her overseas service in 1925 and practiced for 16 years in earthquake-ravaged Tokyo, revolutionizing healthcare for mothers and children.
As one of 14 children, Mabel Elliott’s journey across continents knew no borders. Sacrificing her medical practice in Michigan, Elliott ventured into the perilous lands of Turkey and Armenia in 1919 to aid disease-ridden and starving refugees following the Armenian Genocide. She ran head-on into the Turkish revolution, under siege at the Battle of Marash as she led thousands of Armenians across mountains in a blizzard. She continued her work in Ismid, Turkey, where once again Turks overran her hospital. In Armenia’s interior, she led the medical care of 40,000 Armenian orphans, thousands suffering from the blinding disease, trachoma. Duty called her to the Burning of Smyrna, where she set up hospitals across Greece to care for Greek and Armenian refugees fleeing the Turks. After a brief stint teaching, she was called to duty in Japan, following a devastating earthquake. There she served in Tokyo as a medical missionary, transforming pediatric care and saving thousands of children through nutrition, well-baby clinics, and other preventative measures.
Using family archives never before examined, professional correspondence, and news accounts, G.L. Pedersen chronicles Elliott’s story of bravery, perseverance, and humanitarianism. She highlights Elliott’s challenges in navigating the politics of relief work, where her quiet, engaging leadership threatened those in power. Betrayed by leaders who tried to silence her, Elliott told the story of her harrowing experiences across the United States in 1924 with her memoir Beginning Again at Ararat. Through detective work in publisher archives, Pedersen reveals a remarkable collaboration on her memoir that remained hidden for a century. Extensive research using letters, cablegrams, and diaries brings this overlooked woman’s thrilling story to life. Dr. Mabel Elliott accomplished what few women physicians have in the field of humanitarian service. With full academic citations throughout, this work is both a critical resource for scholars and an engaging read for anyone interested in history.
120 illustrations
CHILDREN OF ARARAT
By Mabel E. Elliott and Rose Wilder Lane
Mabel E. Elliott, an American physician, served in Turkey, Armenia, and Greece from 1919 to 1923, helping Armenian and Greek refugees and orphans following World War I. She saw unimaginable suffering and hunger while caring for thousands of refugees after the Armenian Genocide.
Rose Wilder Lane, journalist and novelist, worked for the American Red Cross and Near East Relief from 1919 to 1923. Dr. Elliott agreed to work on a book for Near East Relief and the two collaborated on a sweeping memoir that combined Dr. Elliott’s diaries and letters with Rose Wilder Lane’s research on Armenia and its history. The result was a book that became one of the best-known post-World War I memoirs. Lane is most remembered as Laura Ingalls Wilder’s daughter, serving as editor for her mother’s Little House series of books.
Dr. Elliott’s engaging reports and letters were a publicity mainstay for the Near East Relief and American Women’s Hospital organizations to help tell the refugee and orphan story to the American public. Dr. Elliott’s Battle of Marash siege diary is a harrowing tale of her three-day trek leading Armenian refugees across mountains in a blizzard. Rose Wilder Lane wrote articles about Armenia and Greece for several American magazines, including Good Housekeeping, McClure’s, and Asia.
Lane’s collaboration with Dr. Elliott on her book was hidden for more than a century, uncovered during research for Dr. Elliott’s 2025 biography, Unbreakable Healer. Lane’s rumored “Armenia book,” thought lost or never finished, had been found.
Dr. Elliott’s forthright tales and Rose Wilder Lane’s soaring prose make for a book that places the reader in the middle of America’s efforts to care for refugees and orphans in Turkey, Armenia, and Greece a century ago.