Ashland, first known as "Poage Settlement" and "Poage's Landing", was settled by at least two related groups of the Poage family of Virginia. Robert Poage and his sons Robert, Jr., and George, along with Major George Poage and his son John, held title to thousands of acres obtained by assignment from the William Bell patent and treasury land warrants. The first recorded land grant in the area was made to General James Wilkinson in 1783, from whom Robert Poage purchased a grant.