Hello there - in Samuel Mordecai's Richmond in By-Gone Days he described Widewilt Island in the James River at Richmond.
It was created after a big freeze created what was described as a floating island.
Widewilt "drove stakes all round his slippery domain, and wattled them so that future freshets might add further deposits; and thus Widesilt's Island became a possession of some value as a fishery and sand mart.  The island remained above water longer than its founder did above ground; but a similar accident to that which formed the island recurred, and destroyed the work of its predessor."
Alyson L. Taylor-White

On Aug 21, 2014, at 9:11 PM, Lyle E. Browning wrote:

> Hi,
> 
> A bunch of us are working on the early history of the James River canal and in doing so, the patents have been found and platted and most of the successor outparcel sales. I just did a search for Henrico from 1750-1870 patents and came up with 25 or so patents for "in the river" patents. Once I've corralled the plats, I will be attempting to place them on modern maps.
> 
> My question is whether there is a handy list of what islands were named in that area in the past? Mayo's Island, Belle Island with its variants, Williams Island with its variants, but there are undoubtedly others. Any help from anyone with a name, whether placed to a particular island or not, would be greatly appreciated.
> 
> Thanks in advance,
> 
> Lyle Browning
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Alyson L. Taylor-White
804-920-2783

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