Chain of Title and Subsequent Uses of the Building

In 1846, John Dixon Jarvis and Elijah Barnum purchased the one-acre property fronting Main Street that contained the Thomas James Store and other outbuildings, together valued at $350. By 1859, the building value on the land had diminished to $300, and then rose again to $400 in 1872 as improvements were made to the property.17 It is unknown whether the Thomas James Store was still being operated as a retail store at this time, but records show that the land was still used commercially. Elijah Barnum was listed as a merchant in the 1850 census18, and the property was recorded as "Store Lot" in the Land Tax Records in 1859. The James Store itself may have still been used as a retail establishment, or it may have been utilized as a storage building for a new store.

By 1869, the property was solely owned by Elijah Barnum, and remained in the possession of him and his family until 1893, when it was purchased by William Northam Trader and John W. Dixon, Jr.19 At this time, the property became dubbed the "Barnum Store House Lot" in the Mathews Land Tax Records. It appears that the land was still being used commercially, as Trader and Dixon were involved in a mercantile partnership. In 1899, a lawsuit over the partnership resulted in a settlement that transferred full ownership of the property containing the James Store to William Northam Trader.20 By 1898, the property had diminished to ½ acre of land with buildings valued at $250.21

In May of 1899, Trader sold the ½ acre containing the James Store to brothers Henry Sibley and Francis Joseph Sibley, grandsons of Thomas James.22 Henry and F. Joseph had already established their retail business, Sibley Bros. General Store, by the time they purchased the property. It is unknown whether they operated their store elsewhere in Mathews prior to 1899, or whether they rented one of the buildings on the property from William Northam Trader. What is certain is that by 1900, the Sibley brothers had constructed a new 2 ½ story building fronting Main Street from which to operate their business, and the building value on the property rose to $1100.23 By this time, The Thomas James Store was almost certainly used as a storehouse rather than a retail location.

The property remained in the Sibley family for nearly a century; with the death of Francis Joseph Sibley, the property and business was passed to his son, Cecil Miller Sibley, on December 13, 1945.24 Sibley's continued to operate until Cecil's death in 1987, when the property transferred to his wife, Mary Virginia Shinault Croft Sibley.25 In 1989, she sold the property to Jerry and Carol Fruehbrodt, who reopened the general store.26 By this time, the land had been reduced to 0.1268 acres, containing the Thomas James Store, Sibley's General Store, and a third building that was likely utilized as a store at one time, but had been used for storage since the construction of Sibley's. The Fruehbrodts owned the property until 2003, when they sold it to Michael and Lisa Brown.27 The property changed hands again in September 2008 with its sale to the Mathews County Visitor and Information Center. However, Brown had agreed to donate the Thomas James Store to the Mathews County Historical Society prior to the sale, so the building itself is currently owned by MCHS.