Do you know of Middle Fork ???

This page is an orphan - a placeholder until we can discover more about Middle Fork. 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 Middle Fork.

Our sources for Middle Fork (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 Middle Fork other than they indicate that Middle Fork would be found somewhere in Fulton County, Illinois.

From the Blevins / Hellbock List: The post office opened in 1857 and closed in 1863.

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 Middle Fork ...

We found eight communities that share the name Middle Fork.

Within Illinois, the name Middle Fork is unique.

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

Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- California
  - Shasta 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 California community of Middle Fork [Shasta County].
- Kentucky
  - Elliott County
  - Please visit our profile page for the Kentucky community of Middle Fork [Elliott County].
  - Morgan County
  - Please visit our profile page for the Kentucky community of Middle Fork [Morgan County].
- North Carolina
  - Transylvania County
  - Please visit our profile page for the North Carolina community of Middle Fork [Transylvania County].
- Tennessee
  - Henderson County
  - Please visit our profile page for the Tennessee community of Middle Fork [Henderson County].
- West Virginia
  - Barbour County
  - Please visit our profile page for the West Virginia community of Middle Fork [Barbour County].
  - Kanawha County
  - Please visit our profile page for the West Virginia community of Middle Fork [Kanawha County].
  - Randolph County
  - Please visit our profile page for the West Virginia community of Middle Fork [Randolph County].

Miscellaneous References and Mentions for Middle Fork ...

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

Found in a comprehensive list of Post Offices that was created by Cameron Blevins and Richard Helbock.<2>

Map from 1870 (unknown title/publisher)

More Orphans in Fulton 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 Fulton County.

Copperas Creek	Phillips
	Pleasantville
Duncan's Mills	Put Creek

East Oakie	Rapatee Station

Jackson Grove	South Liverpool
	Spoon River
Leaman
	Troy Mills
Middle Grove
	Wee-ma-tuk Hills
Oak Mound	Woodstock

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 Middle Fork 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/