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Review by Harold Miller: "Westward to Destiny," by Ray W. Denison, is a recently published historical novel of the westward movement of the Denison family from their home in Stonington, Connecticut. A significant portion of the book tells how, after the Revolutionary War, the Denison family, along with the Gallup, Thompson, Chesebrough, and Gardiner families of Stonington moved to the Berne / Knox area where they settled on land owned by Stephen Van Rensselaer. Instead of the promised free land, they faced the tyranny of the Indenture drafted by Alexander Hamilton. With other settlers Robert Denison becomes embroiled with masked night riders, barn burnings and "rent wars," which eventually culminate in murder of the Albany County Deputy Sheriff. The narrative includes the family's life in the War of 1812, and their eventual resettlement in Western NY and Canada. It is an exciting story of the hardships faced by the early settlers in the Hilltowns of the Helderbergs.
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