Do you know of Motley ???

This page is an orphan - a placeholder until we can discover more about Motley. When we encounter a name that is new to us, we add it to our Gazetteer with the hope that we'll discover more information in the future. Such is the case with Motley.

We found mention of Motley as a community (see Mentions and References below), but haven't been able to determine its location - other than being located somewhere in Houghton County, Michigan.

This entry could have originated in error. It might be that a source had a misprint, was simply wrong or we made a transcription error while referencing it. Many of the documents we reference are from the 1800s and the early 1900s, with some easier to read than others.

Communities Also Named Motley ...

We found eight communities that share the name Motley.

Within Michigan, the name Motley is unique.

Beyond Michigan, we know of another eight communities that are located throughout in the United States.

Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Alabama
  - Clay County
  - Please visit our profile page for the Alabama community of Motley [Clay County].
  - Tallapoosa County
  - We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Alabama community of Motley [Tallapoosa County].
- Kentucky
  - Pike County
  - Please visit our profile page for the Kentucky community of Motley [Pike County].
  - Warren County
  - Please visit our profile page for the Kentucky community of Motley [Warren County].
- Minnesota
  - Morrison County
  - Please visit our profile page for the Minnesota community of Motley [Morrison County].
- Missouri
  - Jasper County
  - Please visit our profile page for the Missouri community of Motley [Jasper County].
- Texas
  - Rusk County
  - We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Texas community of Motley [Rusk County].
- Virginia
  - Pittsylvania County
  - Please visit our profile page for the Virginia community of Motley [Pittsylvania County].

Miscellaneous References and Mentions for Motley ...

We've created the following list to keep track of the sources that proved useful in adding to our knowledge about Motley:

Along The Tracks, A Directory of Named Places on Michigan Railroads
Written by: Meints, Graydon M.
Published by Clarke Historical Library, Central Michigan University - 1987
(Available from Amazon.com)

Rand McNally Map of Michigan (1911)
Published by Rand McNally & Co.

The FIPS database contains an entry for Motley.

Referenced FIPS Records ...

FIPS Code: 26/55720 (Place Name: Motley)

County: Houghton (FIPS State/County: 26/061)

Class: U8

Identifies a populated place (in this case, Motley) located wholly or substantially outside the boundaries of an incorporated place or CDP (Census Designated Place) but whose name has not been verified as authoritative by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).

More Orphans in Houghton County ...

Can you help?

As we explained above, when we encounter a name that might be a community or a post office we add it to our Gazetteer. If we have little information to go with the name, we call them Orphans. Below are Orphans that we believe to be located in Houghton County.

Ahmeek Mill	Kitchie
Albion
Allouez Mine	Laird
Arcadian Junction	Lake Gerald
Arcadian Mine	Lake Junction
Atlantic	Lakewood
	Linwood
Baltic Junction	Lower Pewabic
Baraga
Belt Line Junction	Mayflower
Blue Jacket	Messner
Bootjack	Midway
Boston Junction	Mills
Boyds	Morrisons Spur
Britton Spur
Brotherton	Nestor Crossing
	New Home
Calumet Junction	North Kearsarge
Clark	North Tamarack Mine
Cole Creek
Concord	Obenhoff
Copper Range Junction	Onnela
Corbett	Opechee
Craig	Osceola Mine
Crystal Lake	Otter

Danielson	Painesdale Junction
Demmon	Phillips
Dollar Bay Dock	Point Mills Junction
Dow	Prickett
Dupont Junction
	Quincy Mine
Eagle Harbor	Quincy
Eagle River	Quinn
East Houghton
Edgemere Junction	Rambaultown
Edgemere	Red Jacket Mine
Elm River	Redridge Junction
	Ricedale
Faleston
Farm	Saint Marys Junction
Farnham	Shore Line Junction
Findley Junction	Silver
Florida	South Kearsarge
Fouchette	South Lake Linden
Fox	Stackpole
Franklin Junction	Stantons Spur
Franklin Junior Mine	Stanwood
Franklin
Freda Park	Tamarack Mine
Frost Junction	Torch Lake City
	Torch Lake Junction
Garon
Glanville	Upper Mills
Green
Grove	Wolverine Mine
Grover	Woodside

Jones Spur	Yandell
	Yellow Jacket

Footnotes ...

<1>

If we encounter the name of what might be a community, our methodology is to add that name to our Gazetteer as a placeholder. As we find more information about that community, it will be added to our Gazetteer.

Just as a reminder: Our definition of a community is rather broad and includes those places (or areas) where several families lived and had a name which identified that place. For example, you might hear somebody say that they are going over to Rock Creek to see Pete ... Rock Creek is just a gas station and a couple of homes at the crossroads. While it might not be on the map, everybody in the area knows it by that name.

Places of interest include buildings at a crossroad, several families clustered in a hollow or maybe the location of a way station. It also includes places like mines, lumber camps, ferry crossings, etc. The community might still exist, is now gone or only existed for just a short period of time.

Also keep in mind that Motley could have been on the original document by mistake, misspelled, the original/alternate name of a community that we've listed elsewhere or was placed in the wrong county. Sometimes a post office or train station would have a different name than the community where it's located, so two names might be referring to the same community - we're working to straighten it all out.