Mathias or Matthias Shryock (born near Frederick, Maryland, 1774 – died in

Lexington, Kentucky Lexington is a city in Kentucky, United States that is the county seat of Fayette County, Kentucky, Fayette County. By population, it is the List of cities in Kentucky, second-largest city in Kentucky and List of United States cities by popul ...

, 1833) was an early American architect and building contractor.

Life and career

Shryock was born in Maryland, where he married in 1798, but moved to Kentucky, eventually settling in Lexington. He built his family's home on the site of what is now Transylvania University. In 1814, Shryock designed the first Episcopal church in Lexington, and later designed the childhood home of Mary Todd Lincoln on West Main Street, among many other homes in Lexington. He was the father of two other American architects:

Gideon Gideon (; ) also named Jerubbaal and Jerubbesheth, was a military leader, judge and prophet whose calling and victory over the Midianites are recounted in of the Book of Judges in the Hebrew Bible. Gideon was the son of Joash, from the Abiez ...

(1802 – 1880) and Cincinnatus (1816 – 1888), both of whom were born in Lexington and achieved fame in their own right, particularly within Kentucky. According to one Kentucky Department of Highways plaque, the " st known surname in Kentucky architecture is Shryock." In all, Mathias Shryock fathered a total of ten children. Shryock died of

cholera Cholera is an infection of the small intestine by some strains of the bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea that lasts a few days. Vomiting and ...

and is buried in

External links

* 1774 births 1833 deaths Architects from Lexington, Kentucky Architects from Maryland Deaths from cholera Infectious disease deaths in Kentucky 19th-century American architects People from Frederick County, Maryland {{US-architect-stub