The couple had met while caring for their ailing grandfather, Eleazar Rosebrook, a pioneering hotelier at Crawford Notch in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, US.
The couple spent many years in the area, with a brief time living at Guildhall, Vermont, and through much of it they were pioneers in the development of tourism there.
Ill-health eventually took its toll on Ethan and during his final years he told Lucy of many episodes from his life which she was able to turn into a book about both him and the area.
Crawford wrote a revised version around 1860 that expanded the scope such that it contained more about the area, effectively reducing the concentration on Ethan's own life.
and that the book is of a similar genre to those that recount tales of American pioneers such as Davy Crockett and Daniel Boone.