Fred O. Ellis (1836-1929) was born in Maine, trained as a teacher at the State Normal School in Bridgewater, Massachusetts, and went on to teach in Swampscott, Massachusetts. During the Civil War, he served as a private in Company E of the Massachusetts 45th Regiment and after his discharge was elected captain in the Massachusetts militia for Swampscott and Lynn. He lived with his mother at Elm Cottage on Burrill Street in Swampscott when Mary Baker Eddy boarded with them in 1866. While living with the Ellises, Eddy spent most of her time writing and at the end of each day would read her work to the Ellises.

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