Ellen was born on July 24, 1846 in Roxbury, Massachussets, United States. She was a descendant of Gregory Stone who emigrated to Watertown, Massachussets, in 1635. Her father and her mother, Benjamin Franklin Stone and Lucy Waterman (Barker) Stone, were religiously minded, she was named for a missionary, and at her baptism her mother dedicated her to that calling.
She graduated from the grammar and high schools of Chelsea.
After studies she taught at high schools of Chelsea. In 1883 she was transferred to Philippopolis, in Bulgaria, and there for more than ten years she spent much of her time visiting women in their homes. Soon, too, she began a training class to prepare Bible-women to do similar work.
For a time she was in charge of the mission's school for girls, and in 1885, in the course of the uprising in which Eastern Rumelia was united to Bulgaria, she ministered to sick and wounded soldiers in Sofia. In 1898, after a furlough in the United States, she was assigned to Saloniki and placed in charge of the evangelistic work for women in that area. Her new duties involved a great deal of travel, most of it through rural and mountainous districts. It was in connection with these journeys that there unexpectedly came upon her the great adventure of her life, which suddenly lifted her name from obscurity and for a time made it known throughout much of the civilized world.
On September 3, 1901, while on one of her regular tours, she and her party were attacked by brigands. She and Katerina Stephanova Tsilka, an American-educated Bulgarian who was attached to the mission, were held captive and a large ransom was demanded. The American Board felt that it could not pay the sum without encouraging the kidnapping of other missionaries, but with the indorsement of President Theodore Roosevelt and his secretary of state, a popular appeal for funds was made throughout the United States.
A sum of about $66, 000 was collected and after skilful negotiations paid to the brigands, and on February 23, 1902, the two women were released. That spring Miss Stone returned to the United States. While her name was long retained on the staff of her mission, she never resumed her residence in the Near East. Instead, she traveled widely in America, telling the story of her captivity.
She died in 1927.
From 1867 to 1878 she was on the editorial staff of the Congregationalist.
