Do you know of Ray ???
This page is an orphan - a placeholder until we can discover more about Ray. 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 Ray.
Our sources for Ray (see Mentions and References below) indicate that it was a community with a post office by the same name. Unfortunately our sources aren't clear about the location of Ray other than they indicate that Ray would be found somewhere in Madison County, North Carolina.
From the Blevins / Hellbock List: The post office opened in 1883 and closed in 1907.
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.
Part of the difficulty in identifying whether a name is a post office or a community lies with how Post Offices were named. We've prepared an article with our understanding of how post offices were named: Naming of Post Offices.
Communities Also Named Ray ...
We found 26 communities that share the name Ray.
Within North Carolina, the name Ray is unique.
Beyond North Carolina, we know of another 26 communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Alabama
- Arizona
- Pinal County
- Please visit our profile page for the Arizona community of Ray [Pinal County].
- Florida
- Hillsborough County
- Please visit our profile page for the Florida community of Ray [Hillsborough County].
- Illinois
- Schuyler County
- Please visit our profile page for the Illinois community of Ray [Schuyler County].
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Koochiching County
- Please visit our profile page for the Minnesota community of Ray [Koochiching County].
- Nebraska
- Holt County
- Please visit our profile page for the Nebraska community of Ray [Holt County].
- Nevada
- New York
- Genesee County
- Please visit our profile page for the New York community of Ray [Genesee County].
- North Dakota
- Williams County
- Please visit our profile page for the North Dakota community of Ray [Williams County].
- Ohio
- Jackson County
- Please visit our profile page for the Ohio community of Ray [Jackson County].
- Pennsylvania
- Tennessee
- Union County
- Please visit our profile page for the Tennessee community of Ray [Union County].
- Texas
- Virginia
- Pittsylvania County
- Please visit our profile page for the Virginia community of Ray [Pittsylvania County].
Miscellaneous References and Mentions for Ray ...
We've created the following list to keep track of the sources that proved useful in adding to our knowledge about Ray:
Found in a comprehensive list of Post Offices that was created by Cameron Blevins and Richard Helbock.<2>
Business Atlas and Shippers' Guide (1895)
Published by Rand McNally & Co.
A note taken from the Shipper's Guide for Ray - Services available: had a Post Office, no Railroad mentioned
More Orphans in Madison 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 Madison County.
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 Mile's to see Pete ... Mile's 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 Ray 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. |
| <2> | A copy of their list with background information can be found at: https://cblevins.github.io/us-post-offices/data-biography/ |