Take a moment to imagine what seeing Niagara Falls for the first time would have been for a person in 1804. This was before Niagara County was established (still being Genesee County at the time) and the Erie Canal had not yet been built.

I found a few entries in a book titled: Memoirs, Journal, and Correspondence of Thomas Moore Vol. 1 edited by Lord John Russell, M. P. in 1853 where Thomas Moore wrote some letters to his mother in 1804 describing what it was like to see Niagara Falls for the first time. It was a fascinated read as he tried to articulate his emotions and the impact that seeing the Falls made on him.

Here are the transcriptions:

“[No. 87.]. To his Mother.
Chippewa, Upper Canada, July 22. 1804.
Dearest Mother,
Just arrived within a mile and half of the Falls of Niagara, and their tremendous roar at this moment sounding in my ears. We travelled one whole day through the wilderness, where you would imagine human foot had never ventured to leave its print ; and this brought work has given a healthier hue to my cheek than ever it could boast in the Easter hemisphere of London. If you look at the map of North America, you will be able to trace my situation. I have passed through the Genessee country, and am now between Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. Such scenery as there is around me ! it is quite dreadful that any heart, born for sublimities, should be doomed to breathe away its hours amidst the miniature productions of this world, without seeing what shapes Nature can assume, what wonders God can give birth to.
I have seized this momentary opportunity, dear mother, for writing a line to you, which I will entrust to the Waggoner who returns to Geneva, from which place I last wrote to you. Heaven send you may receive all the letters. I feel they would interest even a stranger to me, then what must they be to you ! Love to dear father and girls. Your own,
Tom.
I am now on British ground; we arrived yesterday evening to dinner, and drunk the King’s health in a bumper. Just going to see the Falls. Good by.”¹

“[No. 87.]. To his Mother.
Niagara, July 24. 1804.
My dearest Mother,
I have seen the Falls, and am all rapture and amazement. I cannot give you better idea of what I felt than by transcribing what I wrote off hastily in my journal on returning. “Arrived at Chippewa, within three miles of the Falls, on Saturday, July 21st, to dinner. That evening walked towards the Falls, but got no father than the Rapids, which gave us a prelibation of the grandeur we had to expect. Next day, Sunday, July 22d, went to visit the Falls. Never shall I forget the impression I felt at the first glimpse of them which we got as the carriage passed over the hill that overlooks them. We were not near enough to be agitated by the terrific effects of the scene ; but saw through the trees this mighty flow of waters descending with calm magnificence, and received enough of its grandeur to set imagination on the wing; imagination which, even at Niagara, can outrun reality. I felt as if approaching the very residence of the Deity ; the stars started into my eyes; and I remained, for moments after we had lost sight of the scene, in that delicious absorption which pious enthusiasm alone can produce. We arrived at the New Ladder and descended to the bottom. Here all its awful sublimities rushed full upon me. But the former exquisite sensation was gone. I now saw all. The string that had been touched by the first impulse, and which fancy would have kept for ever in vibration, now rested at reality. Yet, though there was no more to imagine, there was much to feel. My whole heart and should ascended towards the Divinity in a swell of devout admiration, which I never before experienced. Oh ! bring the atheist here, and he cannot return an atheist! I pity the man who can coldly sit down to write a description of these ineffable wonders; much more do I pity him who can submit them to the admeasurement of gallons and yards. It is impossible by pen or pencil to convey even a faint idea of their magnificence. Painting is lifeless; and the most burning words of poetry have all be lavished upon inferior and ordinary subjects. We must have new combinations of language to describe the Falls of Niagara.”²

I hope you enjoyed reading those letters as much as I did. It really made me take a step back and try to imagine what the experience must have been like through his eyes. I think that we maybe have grown a little desensitized to some of the wonders of the world – especially one that we have right in our own “back yard” and can see it anytime that we would like.

You can see a full digitized version of the book here: https://books.google.com/books/about/Memoirs_Journal_and_Correspondence_of_Th.html?id=c-oEAAAAYAAJ

Thomas Moore’s Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Moore

Thomas Moore’s Profile page on the FamilySearch Family Tree: https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/LHXY-2Y3

Jeanette Sheliga is the Niagara County (NY) Genealogical Society’s (NCGS) Chairman of the Board, Vice President, and Program Chairperson. She is a member of many local and national organizations and holds leadership positions with the Niagara Falls Chapter of the DAR as the Chapter Registrar, the Western New York Genealogical Society (WNYGS) as a member of the Board of Directors, and the Virtual Genealogical Association (VGA) as the Corresponding Secretary. You can learn more about Jeanette on her website and her profile page for the Association of Professional Genealogists (APG).

1. John Russell, ed., Memoirs, Journal, and Correspondence of Thomas Moore (London, England: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, 1853), 170-1; digital images, Google Books (https://books.google.com : accessed 6 March 2021).
2. Russell, Memoirs, 171-2.