Language, Meaning & Expression
This page offers a way to explore the Archive through the language it contains. By analyzing transcripts from our digital records, we identified some of the most common words across the collection. While these transcripts are not flawless, they reveal powerful patterns in how people, places and ideas were described. Keywords are grouped alphabetically and arranged by frequency, offering a sense of which themes and topics surface most often.
Language, Meaning & Expression
This page offers a way to explore the Archive through the language it contains. By analyzing transcripts from our digital records, we identified some of the most common words across the collection. While these transcripts are not flawless, they reveal powerful patterns in how people, places and ideas were described. Keywords are grouped alphabetically and arranged by frequency, offering a sense of which themes and topics surface most often.
Common Keywords
(Listed in descending order based on document frequency)
A
age, amount, act, april, administrator, acre, account, aforesaid, ann, august, art, article, air, alabama, america, allen, anne, ant, agent, aid, anderson, andrew, appraisement, action, aunt, ave, ace, ale, alexander, afore, agreement, affair, answer, attention, authority, appraiser, arm, army, assembly
B
boy, bill, book, bay, bed, bond, body, bourbon, ben, brother, balance, bank, bargain, board, bedford, benefit, band, business, bounty, bee, blanket, brown, bag, ball, bath, bible, ban, bell, benjamin, bit, bridle, bull, bacon, barrel, black, bar, bone, building, battle, beck, ballance, behalf, betty, box, brought, bushel
C
court, child, cent, count, consideration, claim, charles, clerk, city, condition, credit, cattle, clay, cost, cash, carolina, carriage, chair, country, cause, charge, cow, commissioner, corn, calf, copy, cotton, card, chest, circuit, class, clock, chain, co., commission, care, company, cart, clothing, comity, charlotte, church, courity, course, caroline, contract, cross, clother, commonwealth, cupboard, cut, character, consent, candle, capt, cat, command, constitution, cooper, crop, certificate, charleston, clark, collar, colt, cott
D
dollar, date, dr., debt, december, death, daughter, deed, den, duty, dan, deal, daniel, dear, decease, desire, deer, division, dec., district, david, dollan, dale, dent, defendant, demand, doctor, duncan, delivery, department, die, dance, dec, description, dice, dise
E
estate, executor, effect, elizabeth, execution, east, edward, eve, event, expense, eliza, eye, ear, earth, est, evidence, elk, expence
F
fore, fire, furniture, form, father, friend, family, fort, fund, fall, fee, february, field, force, frank, fur, fan, foot, favor, file, fir, firm, food, faith, fare, farm, freedom, fer, fin, francis, fear, ford, franklin, feb., florida, frame
G
george, girl, god, gun, game, grant, grand, gold, gear, glass, green, gain, guardian, government, ground, gene, gin, gover
H
hand, house, horse, home, heir, henry, head, half, hire, hat, hers, hundred, hog, hour, hope, husband, hair, hall, health, hill, hen, household, heart, heifer, hier, ham, hay, hon, hunt, harry, hem, hind, hold, honor, howard
I
inventory, issue, intent, instrument, increase, independence, item, inch, idea, institution, iron
J
john,james,january,july,june,joseph,judge,jan,jane,jacob,justice,johnson,jones,jackson,jack
K
kentucky, knowledge, kitchen, king, knife
L
land, life, law, lot, letter, line, lord, list, love, lane, lewis, liberty, loss, lucy, leg, light, lad, louisa, labor, log, lake, lee, lette, levy, louse
M
money, mr., mary, march, month, mind, manner, mother, ment, mill, mark, mare, matter, monday, mar, master, memory, mule, martin, mile, miller, morning, madison, mon, min, mortgage, motion, main, mine, moore, mouth, mail, male, margaret, market, meeting, mille, miss, mrs., martha, mass, milly, mississippi, moment, morgan
N
negro, name, note, no., north, nancy, november, night, nation, notice, news, nov, nelson, none, nest
O
office, october, oath, owner, obligation, opinion, officer, ore, object, oct, offer
P
property, person, payment, presence, page, purpose, paper, price, peace, party, pay, pair, peter, port, parish, power, possession, people, probate, plantation, pole, press, portion, post, pound, purchase, pain, par, plan, pot, plate, poll, premise, pat, plaintiff, paris, personal, proceeds, parent, paul, proportion, provision, public
Q
R
robert, receipt, report, record, richard, rest, reason, rent, road, rate, return, request, rice, richmond, red, reed, relation, respect, rifle, rose
S
slave, sale, sum, seal, son, service, smith, sheriff, set, south, samuel, stock, suit, stone, september, sister, share, sin, sand, sarah, sun, saddle, sam, sheep, subject, self, silver, security, sound, summer, store, street, sally, sea, seat, sir, school, scott, season, shovel, site, statement, spring, support, salt, servant, sign, sugar, sort, sell, stack, stephen, susan, seed, sept, sheet, shoe, shot, spoon, shore, sight, slavery, society, station, stewart, survey, situation, stage, stand, stem, story
T
time, thomas, term, table, town, title, testament, tract, tax, testimony, tree, tale, tom, trust, test, tool, thousand, trial, tie, tin, trouble, theme, ton, tot, tour, trade, tent, todd, toe, top, trustee
U
V
value, virginia, virtue, vote, void
W
william, witness, woman, wife, wit, word, white, week, west, winter, war, washington, ward, warrant, watch, wheel, williams, water, wall, wish, wood, world, ware, wheat, writ, weather, widow, willian, wilson, wright, wagon, waggon
Common Keywords
(Listed in descending order based on document frequency)
A
age, amount, act, april, administrator, acre, account, aforesaid, ann, august, art, article, air, alabama, america, allen, anne, ant, agent, aid, anderson, andrew, appraisement, action, aunt, ave, ace, ale, alexander, afore, agreement, affair, answer, attention, authority, appraiser, arm, army, assembly
B
boy, bill, book, bay, bed, bond, body, bourbon, ben, brother, balance, bank, bargain, board, bedford, benefit, band, business, bounty, bee, blanket, brown, bag, ball, bath, bible, ban, bell, benjamin, bit, bridle, bull, bacon, barrel, black, bar, bone, building, battle, beck, ballance, behalf, betty, box, brought, bushel
C
court, child, cent, count, consideration, claim, charles, clerk, city, condition, credit, cattle, clay, cost, cash, carolina, carriage, chair, country, cause, charge, cow, commissioner, corn, calf, copy, cotton, card, chest, circuit, class, clock, chain, co., commission, care, company, cart, clothing, comity, charlotte, church, courity, course, caroline, contract, cross, clother, commonwealth, cupboard, cut, character, consent, candle, capt, cat, command, constitution, cooper, crop, certificate, charleston, clark, collar, colt, cott
D
dollar, date, dr., debt, december, death, daughter, deed, den, duty, dan, deal, daniel, dear, decease, desire, deer, division, dec., district, david, dollan, dale, dent, defendant, demand, doctor, duncan, delivery, department, die, dance, dec, description, dice, dise
E
estate, executor, effect, elizabeth, execution, east, edward, eve, event, expense, eliza, eye, ear, earth, est, evidence, elk, expence
F
fore, fire, furniture, form, father, friend, family, fort, fund, fall, fee, february, field, force, frank, fur, fan, foot, favor, file, fir, firm, food, faith, fare, farm, freedom, fer, fin, francis, fear, ford, franklin, feb., florida, frame
G
george, girl, god, gun, game, grant, grand, gold, gear, glass, green, gain, guardian, government, ground, gene, gin, gover
H
hand, house, horse, home, heir, henry, head, half, hire, hat, hers, hundred, hog, hour, hope, husband, hair, hall, health, hill, hen, household, heart, heifer, hier, ham, hay, hon, hunt, harry, hem, hind, hold, honor, howard
I
inventory, issue, intent, instrument, increase, independence, item, inch, idea, institution, iron
J
john,james,january,july,june,joseph,judge,jan,jane,jacob,justice,johnson,jones,jackson,jack
K
kentucky, knowledge, kitchen, king, knife
L
land, life, law, lot, letter, line, lord, list, love, lane, lewis, liberty, loss, lucy, leg, light, lad, louisa, labor, log, lake, lee, lette, levy, louse
M
money, mr., mary, march, month, mind, manner, mother, ment, mill, mark, mare, matter, monday, mar, master, memory, mule, martin, mile, miller, morning, madison, mon, min, mortgage, motion, main, mine, moore, mouth, mail, male, margaret, market, meeting, mille, miss, mrs., martha, mass, milly, mississippi, moment, morgan
N
negro, name, note, no., north, nancy, november, night, nation, notice, news, nov, nelson, none, nest
O
office, october, oath, owner, obligation, opinion, officer, ore, object, oct, offer
P
property, person, payment, presence, page, purpose, paper, price, peace, party, pay, pair, peter, port, parish, power, possession, people, probate, plantation, pole, press, portion, post, pound, purchase, pain, par, plan, pot, plate, poll, premise, pat, plaintiff, paris, personal, proceeds, parent, paul, proportion, provision, public
Q
R
robert, receipt, report, record, richard, rest, reason, rent, road, rate, return, request, rice, richmond, red, reed, relation, respect, rifle, rose
S
slave, sale, sum, seal, son, service, smith, sheriff, set, south, samuel, stock, suit, stone, september, sister, share, sin, sand, sarah, sun, saddle, sam, sheep, subject, self, silver, security, sound, summer, store, street, sally, sea, seat, sir, school, scott, season, shovel, site, statement, spring, support, salt, servant, sign, sugar, sort, sell, stack, stephen, susan, seed, sept, sheet, shoe, shot, spoon, shore, sight, slavery, society, station, stewart, survey, situation, stage, stand, stem, story
T
time, thomas, term, table, town, title, testament, tract, tax, testimony, tree, tale, tom, trust, test, tool, thousand, trial, tie, tin, trouble, theme, ton, tot, tour, trade, tent, todd, toe, top, trustee
U
V
value, virginia, virtue, vote, void
W
william, witness, woman, wife, wit, word, white, week, west, winter, war, washington, ward, warrant, watch, wheel, williams, water, wall, wish, wood, world, ware, wheat, writ, weather, widow, willian, wilson, wright, wagon, waggon
Banner illustration reference: Correspondence Advocating Freedom for Enslaved Persons, 1835
Banner illustration reference: Correspondence Advocating Freedom for Enslaved Persons, 1835