ROBERT
MCMULLEN (JAS. B. WOODRUFF) HOUSE
346 S. Upper
St., Lexington,
Fayette County, Kentucky
Built 1816
Robert McMullen bought the lot here (50 feet) from John Leiby in November, 1806, but seemingly did not erect a house for several years.
McMullen encountered financial difficulties and mortgaged the property to Richard Higgins, Sr., in 1816, but Higgins transferred it back to him the next year for "five shillings." This indicates he had borrowed the money then to build the house.
After McMullen's death, his creditors had the house sold, representing the interest of his son and heir, John McMullen, and it was bought by James E. Davis, who turned it over to Michael Fishel. "being a considerable creditor."
Fishel sold the house to Rolla Blue and Blue's sister's trustee conveyed it to Thomas Bradley in 1853.
Bradley conveyed it in 1857 to James B. Woodruff, who added the side-porch "ell."
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