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UPDATED 2015-06-30, 3:14 PM:
PRIMARY PA SOURCES SHOWING A POAGE-RENICK CONNECTION:
There are multiple primary sources from the 1700s suggesting that Robert Poage's wife Elizabeth was actually a Renick. Here is a list of those from Pennsylvania:
1711 – The earliest record of George Renick comes from a document signed by members of a new Presbyterian community in the town of Abington, PA in 1711:
“We whose names are under written have engaged ourselves to be Ye Lord’s and do hereby engage ourselves to Ye Lord & to one another to unite together in a Church-State according to Ye Rule God gave in his word to direct his church, in all the duties required of us towards God, ourselves & towards all men praying the Lord please to aide and direct us.”
Among the signatures on this document are those by a “George Rinnick”, “Margaret Rinnick”, and a “Sara Rinnick”. The Abington Presbyterian Church would be formally founded 3 years later in 1714.
1724, January 2nd - "Robert Pock m. Elizabeth Perick in Abington Presbyterian Church in Pa. Jan. 2, 1724." (marriage of Robert Poage and Elizabeth Renick)
(Source: “Abington Presbyterian Church” records in Record of Pennsylvania Marriages Prior to 1810, Volume II (1880), p. 195.)
1724, May 30th - Attendance of “Robert pocke and his wife and his son Robert pocke and his wife by certificate" per records of Dutch Reformed Church of Bensalem.
(Source: “Records of the Dutch Reformed Church, Bensalem, Bucks County, Pennsylvania” in Publications of the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania (1912), p. 36.)
1724, June 6th - “Robert Pock and Ellisabeth Pock” “joined with us in communion”, per records of Dutch Reformed Church of Bensalem. Henry and Jane Jameson are also listed as taking communion that day.
(Sources: The Church Record of Neshaminy and Bensalem, Bucks County, 1710-1738, p. 131; also transcribed in “Records of the Dutch Reformed Church, Bensalem, Bucks County, Pennsylvania” in Publications of the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania (1912), p. 27.)
1728 - Excommunication
[The following was copied by the author from the original record, through the favour of the Rev. Dr. Steel, the present pastor of the Abington Church. It dates a year before the Adopting Act.]
"March ye 7th, Anno Domini. 1728. "The charge of the Church against George Rennick and Henry Jamison, viz:
"1st. Caused divisions in the Church; — to be marked by Rom. 16: 17. "2d. Their breach of covenant by turning off from attending att any ordinances of ye Church, without giving any reason for so doing; — contrary to Rom. 13: 2. "3dly. Despise government, being often sent for by the Church. 2 Pet. 2: 10. "4thly. Refusing wholy to heare the Church, being often charged and admonished; — in Matt. 18: 17.
"And likewise ye said Rennick's wife, and his son Wm. Rennick and his wife, also his son-in-law Robert Poke confederates in the same obstinacy with ye said Rennick and Jamison now two years past. And by so doing, as far as their credit could go, vilifying this Church, and put a contempt upon God's ways and ordinances, and thereby made themselves to this Church as heathens and publicans.
"Whereupon we cannot but think it our duty according to the Rule of God's word to determine them as heathens and publicans. Malachi Jones, Pastor. Abednego Thomas, Garret Wynkoop, Joseph Breden, Elders. Joseph Charlesworth, I Deacons. "Benj. Jones, Charles Haeste
“(6) This case in the General Synod. "Six persons that were excommunicated by the Rev. Mr. Malachi Jones, namely, George Renock and his wife, Robert Poke, [Loke?] William Renock and his wife, and Henry Jameson, appealing to the Presbytery of Philadelphia, from the sentence of excommunication passed against them, and the Presbytery having referred that matter to the determination of the Synod; after hearing two of the appellants and two of Mr. Jones's Church, (whereof one was an Elder,) declaring what they knew of the offences charged against the appellants, as also read and considered the extract of the minutes of the excommunication ; the Synod, after due deliberation, came to this conclusion: That whereas the appellants do freely own, in their own names, and in the names of them that are absent, their breaking away from the communion of Mr. Jones's Church, without previous application made for certificates of dismission, was a disorder and a fault for which they are very sorry, and do ask forgiveness of God and all those that they did offend by this disorderly step; the Synod does appoint, that upon their acknowledging this their offence, by a writing read or offered to be read in Mr. Jones's Congregation, the said appellants shall be absolved from the aforesaid sentence, and so be free to join with what Congregation they please."
Here we see “Robert Poke” referred to as “son-in-law” to George Renick. James Jameson was also among those excommunicated.
(Source: A Collection of the Acts, Deliverances, and Testimonies of the Supreme Judicatory of the Presbyterian Church from its Origin in America to the Present Time, with Notes and Documents (1856), p. 91-92.)
1730 - a Lancaster County land grant was issued by statesman James Logan to George Renick and his family:
"An Early Settler on the Susquehanna: Whereas George Renick, late of Iniskillen, having about eleven years since arrived in the province with the first settlers of Donegal, yet has never obtained leave to settle on any of the proprietor's lands, without which leave he never would presume to attempt it, and being now desirous that himself and three sons, William, Thomas, and Robert and his son-in-law, Robert Polke, might be allowed to settle down on some tract together in one neighbourhood, I therefore think it advisable that pursuant to his request he and his said sons and son-in-law be suffered to enter on the quantity of one thousand acres, near Susquehanna, between Sohataroe and Pextan, and that the same may be marked out to him and his said sons in a regular tract by the surveyor of Lancaster county or his order at the said George's charge, upon this express condition, that he and his said sons and son-in-law shall comply with such terms as shall be proposed by the proprietors or their agents, when lands in those parts shall be granted, or other wise shall quietly quitt the same. Dated at Stenton, the 25th day of January, 1730-1. - James Logan
"Let him begin on Susquehanna at least two miles above Soharatoe, running a proper distance back, and he may take in any settlement that is only begun and not actually inhabited. J.L."
(Source: William Henry Egle, Notes & Queries, Historical and Genealogical, p. 83.)
1738 - In the index of the Pennsylvania Archives, volume IX, it is noted that a Sarah Poke married a Thomas Gordon at the First Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia on June 7, 1733.
Source: Pennsylvania Archives, Second Series, Vol. IX (1880), "Marriage Record of the First Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia, 1702-1745," p. 56.
Every Poage family tree I have seen lists Thomas Gordon as the husband of Robert Poage's oldest child, Sarah Poage. Could this be their marriage record? I know of no Virginian marriage for Thomas and Sarah, but it is usually estimated that they married in 1738 or 1739, probably due to the fact that their first child, Jean Gordon, was presumably born in 1739. That being said, is it possible that the person who transcribed the record for this index mistakenly read 1738 as 1733, interpreting an 8 for a 3? The "Poke" spelling of Sarah's name matches or is similar to what we've found of Robert and Elizabeth, as well as Robert's parents, in the PA records (other variations include "Pock", "Pocke", and "Polke").
PRIMARY VA SOURCES SHOWING A POAGE-RENICK CONNECTION:
Coming soon...
EARLIEST SECONDARY SOURCES CLAIMING A POAGE-PRESTON CONNECTION:
Despite many family trees on the web listing Robert Poage of Augusta County as marrying an Elizabeth Preston in Ireland, I have yet to find any primary source material confirming this claim, which makes me wonder if Robert's "Elizabeth" was never a Preston, but rather a Renick all along.
Below is an analysis of all the secondary sources that I am aware of suggesting a Poage-Preston connection, the earliest so far dating back to 1901.
(1) Annotated copy of the book, The Preston Genealogy, published back in 1900. Whereabouts are unknown.
I found this source after coming across a claim online that "Elizabeth Preston and Robert Poage were married in England, according to margin notes in John Preston family history." No further details are given about this "margin note" or annotation that was added to this particular copy of the Preston family history book. I tried tracing this source back to see if I could get more information about it. The oldest references to it on the web are on two family trees' Elizabeth Preston profiles, both created back in 2005:
http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=bb-frog&i... http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=jeant_5&i...
Both say the following:
Elizabeth Preston was a sister to John Preston [wife Elizabeth Patton]. An annotated copy of the Preston Genealogy [Fam 00-05] contains a notation to the effect "John Preston's sister Elizabeth Preston came to America with her brother's group. She married Robert Poage in England." Also a notation that the date of immigration was 1735, not 1740. It is quite possible that they lived a few years in Maryland, where Robert see ms to have had relatives among earlier settlers there, or they could have lived elsewhere in Virginia or in Pennsylvania. The actual record of arrival or ships' list has not been located as yet. [1988]. There are Pogue/Poague/Poage records in both Pennsylvania and Maryland, in addition to those in Virginia.1
1. Abbrev: Fam 00-05 Preston Title: ed. L. A. Wilson under the direction of William Bowker Preston, The Preston Genealogy 1040 to the Present (the Deseret News, Salt Lake City, Utah, 1900).
I tried contacting the publisher of the second profile in 2014, Jean T. Gillett, through a couple different email addresses that I've seen used by her on different family trees or genealogy forums online, but both email accounts are no longer active. She last updated the above tree back in 2005 and I think the last activity I could find of her on a genealogy forum was in 2011. Alas, she may no longer be active on the web, which means it could be very difficult to find out anything further from her.
I also emailed the publisher of the other Elizabeth Preston profile, Frank Grether, on June 23, 2015 and did not get an inactive notice response, so hopefully I will eventually hear back from him.
The ultimate question here is the following: Can we really trust a "margin note" in a book as a source if it does not point back to a primary source? I think most researchers would say "no", and it certainly doesn't help that we haven't even been able to locate the specific copy of the book containing margin not, nor any of the earliest people to reference it back in 2005.
Let us move on then to the second group of sources...
(2) This second group of secondary sources is derived from the "Introduction" to the classic 2-volume 1954 book by John Guy Bishop, titled The Descendants of Robert and John Poage. This book makes the claim that Robert's wife was "Elizabeth Preston" (on page 2 of volume 1, "On these primarily the House of Robert Poage rests; John Preston's wife Elizabeth was a sister of James Patton, his sister Elizabeth was wife to Robert Poage."). The primary author behind the book, John Guy Bishop, also had a new gravestone erected in 1938, listing "Elizabeth Preston" as the wife ("Sacred to the memory of ROBERT POAGE, immigrant from Ireland, 1739--elder in Augusta Stone Church--justice first Commission of the Peace, Augusta County, 1745--died in 1774--and to the memory of his wife, ELIZABETH PRESTON").
But what resources was he relying upon to make this claim of a Poage-Preston connection so confidently? The "Introduction" to the book (written by editor Robert Bell Woodworth) along with the sources it cites, will be analyzed below under (2a), (2b), and (2c)...
(2a) Writings/research of Edgar Woods and daughter Ann Eliza (Mrs. John Russell Sampson)
The first sources mentioned in the "Descendants" introduction are those compiled by Rev. Edgar Woods and his daughter Ann Eliza. Here's what is said (2 paragraphs):
"Shortly before Robert and John Poage settled in Augusta County, in the year 1734, one Michael Woods came from Pennsylvania with three sons and three daughters and settled at the head of Rockfish River in present Albemarle County. Andrew Woods, son of Michael, married Martha Poage, daughter of Robert, and so founded another large and influential branch of the clan. "Some old letters, stowed away in an attic, led to an investigation of lines of kindred before unknown." And so Rev. Edgar Woods, DD, pastor of the Presbyterian church of Charlottesville, Va., published in 1894 One Branch of the Woodses, a copy of which came to the editor by the kindness of Rev. Henry Woods McLaughlin DD. This little book gives merely, in general, only names of men and women, their spouses and children and places of residence, but has been quite helpful in checking other data down to its date.
"Dr. Woods' researches were continued by his daughter, Ann Eliza, (Mrs. John Russell Sampson), who published her data and recollections in Kith and Kin, Richmond, Va.,1922 (Supplement, 1929). This volume has very few dates and descent is shown chiefly by chart, a quite useful medium for her Woods line and collaterals, especially valuable for lists of ministers and foreign missionaries."
I have not yet been able to locate the 1894 book/booklet One Branch of the Woodses, but I did come across the papers of Edward Woods - they are kept in the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library at the University of Virginia:
Edgar Woods papers [manuscript] 1894-1903.
Woods, Edgar,
Format Mixed Materials; Archive Description 5 items. Summary The collection contains the final manuscript and two preliminary versions of the Rev. Woods' "Albemarle County in Virginia," 1900. The collection also contains a printed pamphlet by the Rev Woods "One branch of the Woodses," 1894. A letter, 1903 May 9, Jesse Bryon to the Rev. Woods discusses the Moorman family of Louisia County, Va. Cite as Edgar Woods Papers, 1894-1903, Accession #6378, Special Collections, University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, Va.
http://search.lib.virginia.edu/catalog/u3991116 http://small.library.virginia.edu/
If anyone lives near this library and is able to review these records to search for information about a Poage-Preston connection, that would be extremely helpful in bringing us a step closer to resolving this mystery.
That being said, I did come across the 1922 book Kith and Kin by Edgar Woods' daughter Ann Eliza (then Mrs. John Russell Sampson). In that book she assumes that Robert's wife Elizabeth was a Preston, but she also admits to knowing of no evidence that this Elizabeth was the sister of John Preston (2 paragraphs):
"Bishop Dudley, of Kentucky, thought he belonged to Wm. Dudley, but I could not find the connecting generations. Nor did I put Bp. Richard Sampson in the list, since no record supports the tradition, as it does in John Rogers? case.
"For the same reason, I have included none of all the fine Preston preachers, except the sons of Sally Lyle Caruthers and Col. T. L. Preston; for I do not know by any record that Robert Poage's wife, Elizabeth Preston, was John Preston's sister. However, I believe all these, and the Campbells as well, are our kindred. But as there are no records extant to prove the facts, we welcome but do not count them."
http://people.virginia.edu/~rtg2t/kin/data/Kith.and.Kin.txt https://archive.org/details/kithkin_00samp
I have not yet seen or come across the 1929 Supplement to the Kith and Kin book, but this might be worth looking into if it can be located. And again, if anyone lives near the University of Virginia, it would be extremely helpful if they could review this collection of Edgar Woods papers. At this point though, these records (2a) have not yet turned up a definitive Poage-Preston connection based upon a primary source from the 1700s or even 1800s.
(2b) Writings/research of Andrew Woods Williamson and brother Henry Martyn Williamson
The editor of the 1954 "Descendants" book closes the paragraph about Ann Eliza with the following remark: "But the most complete, careful and thorough collections of genealogical data have been made by three men, lineal descendants of Robert Poage, and on their collections this work is chiefly based." Who are these three men?
The first two men were brothers Andrew Woods Williamson and Henry Martyn Williamson (related to Edgar Woods, but I do not know the exact connection). The "Introduction" says the following about them (2 paragraphs):
"Meantime, impressed with the worthiness of his ancestral lines, in 1893 Andrew Woods Williamson Ph.D (P 11676), professor of mathematics and secretary of the Faculty of Augustana College, Rock Island, Ill., began to collect family data in a systematic way by means of questionaires sent to members of the family he might reach. He died at Portland, Oregon, on October 11, 1905 when his collection and accumulated research data passed to his brother, Henry Martyn Williamson (P 11679), lawyer, editor and secretary of the Oregon State Board of Horticulture, who continued to accumulate genealogical data by means of questionaire, correspondence and personal research until about the time of his death also at Portland, November 29, 1917. And there the matter rested. These two men were descendants of John Poage, second child of pioneer Robert Poage and Elizabeth Preston.
"In 1938 Mr. John Guy Bishop (P 1945151), a lineal descendant of Thomas Poage, last child of pioneer Robert, partner of Bouvier, Bishp and Company, stock brokers, New York, but born in the Augusta Stone Church district of Augusta County, Va., visited the grave of Robert Poage at Augusta Stone Church, erected a monument to his memory, solicited funds for a proper separate wall and remembered the Poage data last in the hands of Mr. Henry Martyn Williamson. He located them in the hands of a Mr. Barton Rees Pogue of Greenfield, Ind, and set himself to the task of bringing the records down to date with a view to publication."
It appears as though much of the information listed on the infamous memorial stone comes from the Poage data collected by the Williamson brothers. Could that include the claim that his wife's name was Elizabeth Preston?
I also located a manuscript collection titled the "Williamson family papers":
http://www.augustana.edu/SpecialCollections/Resources/finding%20aid...
The papers are located in the Special Collections department at the Thomas Tredway Library at Augustana College in Rock Island, IL. This is the college that Andrew Woods Williamson taught at! The web page above gives the following custodial history for the papers: "Materials received from Richard W. Oram, Special Collections Librarian at Washington and Lee University, December 14, 1982. The materials were apparently originally assembled by Sumner C. Williamson for a Pogue-Williamson genealogy, then given to a local public library, which gave them to Washington and Lee University." The "creators" listed are Thomas Smith Williamson (1800-1879) and son Andrew Woods Williamson (1838-1905). Also, this is what is listed as included in the papers relating to Poage history:
Genealogical research (1854-1950 and undated) Pogue/Williamson family research notes, 1854-1908 and undated Correspondence about Pogue family genealogy publication, 1950
Unfortunately, I have reviewed these papers thoroughly and found no mention of a Poage-Preston connection.
After locating the above papers, I came across another collection of Williamson papers held by the Minnesota Historical Society - unfortunately these appear to deal exclusively with Indians:
http://www.mnhs.org/library/findaids/00952.xml
As for Andrew's brother Henry Martyn Williamson, while I know of no manuscript collections for him, I have read one article by him, titled "The Pogues" and first published in The Register in Portland, Oregon, on December 10, 1907. All it says about Robert Poage is the following:
"William Poage came with his parents, Robert and Elizabeth Poage from Ireland settled near Staunton, Virginia about 1737. The name Poague or Pogue was in Scotland spelled Pollock. It is the same name in origin as Polk, and Robert Poague who settled in Augusta County, Virginia, was a nephew or grandnephew of the Robert Pollok or Polk who came from Ireland about fifty years sooner, settled in Maryland and founded the Polk family of America. A few of the descendants of Robert Polk in the direct male line of descent now spell their name Pogue and Poage."
As you can see, while Robert's wife is specified to be "Elizabeth", no last name is given. Therefore, of these records (2b), there is still no known mention of of Robert's wife Elizabeth being a "Preston".
(2c) Writings/research of John Guy Bishop and Robert Bell Woodworth
But the records don't end there. As the last sentence in the excerpt above indicates, John Guy Bishop began to gather records himself, with his primary task apparently being "bringing the records down to date with a view to publication." The "Introduction" says the following about the remaining work that was done by Bishop and the editor Woodworth (4 paragraphs):
"The method followed by these men was to record the names, dates and addresses where given in record books of different sizes and to file the personal, detailed questionaires in a standard office file cabinet. So that when the records came to the editor he received ten record books, five file case drawers, a twelve drawer five by three inch alphabetical index card file listing addresses of about twelve thousand living descendants, and numerous written and printed books of genealogy and pioneer history.
"In 1940 while the editor was collecting genealogical material for the appendix of the 1942 edition of The Captives of Abb's Valley he came in contact with Mr. Bishop and began to exchange data. When that book was published Mr. Bishop invited him to arrange, digest and supplement the accumulated Poage data for publication. He agreed to do that when the History of the Presbytery of Winchester (on which he had been at work before he began to collect data for the Abb's Valley book) was printed; which was done in 1947. Preliminary studies were made in 1947 after the record books had been received from Mr. Bishop and typewriting of printers' copy began in earnest in January 1948, since which time it has continued without intermission so far as the editors health and limited, spare time permitted. Down to that time Mr. Bishop continued to receive completed questionaires.
"The editor did not agree to do any research or questionaire work but has supplemented the questionaires by data which came to him from members of the family ahead of where he was writing and from library materials at his disposal, particularly the alumni directories of Hampden-Sydney College, Washington and Lee University, Princeton Theological Seminary, Union Theological Seminary in New York and Union Theological Seminary in Virginia. Because of that fact and the further fact that, in general, the Poages have been Presbyterian, the Presbyterian ministers have a disproportionate share of the mention. The editor has not failed, however, to record in every case all the data given on the questionaires as to the man's education, where he lived and what he did.
"These three items the editor considers most essential. Unfortunately they are just the items most frequently not given on the questionaires and family lists. While Dr. Wood's booklet, for instance, gives names and places, not a line indicates what the people did."
So the data collected by John Guy Bishop might also be important, but it sounds as though his focus was on more recent Poage generations. Still, if he obtained and possessed copies of all of the data from the Williamson brothers, then his collection would be the most all encompassing.
Unable to locate a collection of John Guy Bishop's papers anywhere, despite him clearly having the largest collection of research material, I decided to see if the records have been passed down through family members. I located his family information in the 1954 Descendants of Robert and John Poage book. One thing worth noting, I didn't realize how old he was (1) when he had the memorial stone installed at the grave in 1938 (about 68 year old) and (2) by the time the book was published in 1954 (about 84 years old). He had 4 children. His son, John Guy Bishop is the only one who is listed in the book as having children, 3 of them, born between 1947 and 1951. I found John Guy Bishop's gravestone - he died in 1995 and was buried in Fairhope, Alabama:
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=25951995
While I was able to get in touch with one of John Guy Bishop's grandchildren, they have been unable to locate any manuscripts among family members. If anybody reading posts on this forum can locate these papers, these too could prove extremely helpful in resolving this question.
(3) While not mentioned in the Descendants book, another secondary source is William T. Price's book, Historical Sketches of Pocahontas County, West Virginia, published by Price Brothers in Marlington, WV, 1901.
On page 514 of this book, under a profile for William Poage (grandson of Robert Poage who settled in Virginia), "Elizabeth Preston" is mentioned:
"The Poages are of pure Scotch-Irish ancestry. The line of descent can be traced to two brothers, Robert and John Poage, who "proved their importation at their own charges, at Orange Courthouse, 1740. The Pocahontas Poages are the descendants of Robert Poage, who settled between Staunton and Fort Defiance, and was among the first to occupy that attractive portion of the famous Valley of Virginia. His wife was Elizabeth Preston, whose family settled in the vicinity of Waynesboro with the pioneers about 1740."
The book is available for free download here:
https://archive.org/details/historicalsketc00pricgoog
Unfortunately, this is still a secondary source and no primary sources are referenced. Still, this 1901 book is in actuality the oldest known source that I am aware of for Elizabeth being a Preston (since we don't know when the margin note was added to The Preston Genealogy book published in 1900).
(4) "U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900" collection on Ancestry.com
In my research, one other source suggested for a Poage-Preston connection was proposed back in 2012 on Genealogy.com:
http://www.genealogy.com/forum/surnames/topics/poage/464/
The person who made the above post noted 4 records showing up stating Robert Poage married Elizabeth Preston. You can also search the database yourself, although I have only been able to find 3 records:
http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=7836
That being said, I think we have reason to be highly suspicious of records in this "U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900" collection. Here is the description of the collection on the Ancestry.com page:
"This database contains marriage record information for approximately 1,400,000 individuals from across all 50 United States and 32 different countries around the world between 1560 and 1900. These records, which include information on over 500 years of marriages, were extracted from family group sheets, electronic databases, biographies, wills, and other sources. Compiled over thirty-four years by professional genealogist Bill Yates, these marriage records are unique because they were taken from a wide array of sources and stand to provide a great deal of information about entire families.
"Source materials for these marriage records include family group sheets, pedigree charts, family history articles, queries, letters, Bible records, wills, and manuscript genealogies. Researching with this unique database, you may be able to learn the full names of the bride and groom, their birth dates and places, the year and/or month they were married, and the marriage location. One of the most useful features of this collection is that once you find an ancestor in this database, you have the opportunity to quickly and easily obtain a great deal more information about that individual by contacting Yates Publishing (see next paragraph).
"The marriage records in this database were provided by Yates Publishing. Yates Publishing has been publishing genealogical books, periodicals, and quarterlies since 1972. In 1981, the founder, Bill Yates, began a service to provide and collect the family history information in family group sheets. Called the Family Group Sheet Exchange, this service has collected over 200,000 pages of family group sheets on paper and several hundred thousand more on disk. For more information or to order an original Family Group Sheet on the Family Group Sheet Exchange, please visit Yates Publishing."
As you can see, the only possible primary sources mentioned here are family bibles and wills, but other sources mentioned include family group sheets, pedigree charts, family history articles, queries, letters, and manuscript genealogies.
Below is a link to a thorough review of the collection in the case of another person unrelated to Robert Poage, simply showing how errors came to exist in this collection and how many of the "sources" are probably family group sheets of various kinds that were made in the 1900s, rather than actual primary sources:
http://mykindred.com/dalton/hoax/usimr.php
I have a feeling that the 3 Poage-Preston marriage "sources" are precisely these kinds of records, rather than actual primary sources from the time period (1700s).
That being said, if anyone is able to access these records, I'm sure many of us would be curious to see what they do show, so please do share what you find.
In summary, at this point, our earliest sources (all secondary) referring to Robert Poage's wife Elizabeth as a Preston are (1) a margin note (no clue when it was written) in The Preston Genealogy book published in 1900, (2a) Mrs. John Russell Sampson's 1922 book Kith and Kin, and (2c) John Guy Bishop's 1954 book Descendants of Robert and John Poage, and (3) mention in the 1901 book Historical Sketches of Pocahontas County, West Virginia. Again, note that all of these are secondary sources! None are primary sources (i.e. original records or documents from the time period).
Chris McAnall