Roger William Conant

Roger William Conant, born in 1895, is listed by Project Gutenberg as the author of Hiking Westward, with the additional alias J. W. Lincoln. That surviving record is slim, but it confirms him as a published writer whose work has remained available to later readers.

He is also associated with Mercer’s Belles: The Journal of a Reporter, a book later described by its publisher page on Amazon as a republication of his account of the 1866 voyage of the “Mercer Girls” from New York to San Francisco and Seattle. That connection suggests a writer interested in travel, reporting, and the people who helped shape western history.

Because readily available biographical information appears limited, much of Conant’s story now has to be traced through his books rather than through detailed personal records. Even so, the writing linked to his name points to a clear appeal: firsthand narrative, regional history, and a strong sense of movement across the American landscape.