JOHN G. JOHNSON—SAMUEL REDD HOUSE

206-208 W. Third St., Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky
Built 1810

Charles Wilkins, who operated a "rope walk" on Upper Street from Third to Second Streets when Transylvania College was an infant seminary, sold a lot on the Third Street end, fronting 40 feet in Upper Street and this alley, to John C. Johnson December 4, 1810—"being the same on which the said Johnson now lives."

Johnson died a few years later, and his administrators, Matthew Elder and Robt. H. Bishop, sold his personal estate in July, 1815, which included the following:

Potracks, gridiron, ovens, skillets, pot-hooks, coffee and tea kettles and stands, tub piggin, dog-irons, wood saws, sash saws, hand saws, iron square, chisels, planes, umbrella staff, spinning wheel, queensware dishes, breakfast table, coffee mill, decanters, wine glasses, copper scales and weights, shovel and tongs, pair of brass andirons, pair of brass candlesticks, mahogany candle stand, dining table, chairs, large looking glass, 8-day clock, four-vol. History of France, vol. Constitution of the United States, vol. History, Geography, Grammar, Rowlett's Discourse, Introduction to Greek, Gazetteers, Art of Measuring, Ready Reckoner, History of Ireland, Architecture (small and large volumes), box water colors, snuff bottles, 16 bonnets, violin, set of "tooth drawers," pocket pistol, "musquet" and bayonet, French "musquet" and bayonet, shot pouch and powder horn, sword and scabbard, three hair trunks, chest, bed cord, lot of bedsteads, walnut bedstead, sorrel horse, saddle and bridle, set of surveyor's instruments, cow, cow and calf, pack of newspapers, pump and irons, lot of iron, sun dial, pair "plyers and dividers," drawing boards, bottle and three glasses, bucket, tin pitcher, whetstone, two beehives, sugar chest, etc.

Among the distinguished buyers at the sale were Dr. James Blythe (who bought the copper scales and brass andirons), Andrew McCalla, Mathew Elder, Edward Howe, James Hamilton, John West, Samuel Rankin, James W. Anderson, David Stout, Benjamin Ayres, David Hill, Jeremiah Bush, Samuel Coolidge, John Bell, Francis Walker, William Sadler.

Samuel Redd purchased the house from Johnson's heirs in 1825. Redd, at this time, was in the "Coach Making business." His ads, neatly illustrated, said he made "carriages and gigs at his stand on Main St. a short distance above Capt. Postlethwait's Tavern." (1838 Directory: Samuel Redd, of Redd & Miller, rope and bagging manufacturers, 135 E. Main St.—which was the north-east corner of Main and Dewees Sts.)

Redd and wife, Sarah G., sold the house in November, 1835, to John Anderson, who in 1834 had bought the Third and Market corner. John Anderson evidently lived here until he built the latter house, as the 1838 Directory cites his residence as "opposite College Lawn, Market Street with no number, while all other Market Street houses are given numbers, and where located on a corner are so designated.

The house remained in the Anderson family for more than a half century. R.T. and J.E. Anderson sold it to W.W. Bruce in 1892. Joseph Dinelli bought it from Bruce's heirs in 1899.

Since the above was written...a destructive fire visited the house April 12, 1940.
 

Source: Old Houses of Lexington, C. Frank Dunn, typescript, n.d., copy located in the Kentucky Room, Lexington (Kentucky) Public Library.

Transcribed by pb, October 2006