The Northwest Territory was created on 13 July 1787 and covered the land west of Pennsylvania and north of the Ohio River, land that would eventually be divided into the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin, along with the northeastern part of Minnesota. On 7 September 1801, Belmont County was organized out of Jefferson County on the north and Washington County on the south. On 1 March 1803, the state of Ohio was admitted to the Union. Streams of westward migrants flowed into and through this area, many of them from southwestern Pennsylvania, northern Virginia (now West Virginia), and even as far away as Maryland. The volumes of probate records usually accessed begin with Volume A, commencing around 1810. However, there had been several years of probate court activity not covered completely by that collection. "Abstracts of Early Probate Records, Belmont County, Ohio (1802-1827)," will hopefully bridge the pre-Volume-A time period.