 Phelps, a descendant of the early New England colonist William Phelps, received his M.D.from the University of Michigan in 1873 and thereupon was appointed Surgeon to the Vermont Central Railroad.After seven years of surgical practice he went to Europe, where he studied surgery for four years under Max Schede, Friedrich von Esmarch, Richard von Volkmann, Theodor Billroth, and Karl Thiersch in Germany and Austria.