Earlier 'West Virginia'?

Why didn’t Virginia let the counties that now form West Virginia separate to form their own state in the same way they did with Kentucky. Was it solely the issue of access to the Ohio?

Is there any way the Federal government could have forced the issue?
 
If the Continental Congress recognized Westsylvania, Westsylvania kept to present day WV (no claiming Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania would never accept that), and Virginia consented you could have it work out then.

I believe another push for statehood in the 1820s also happened.
 
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