Šalek roots of Anton Martin Slomšek

Abstract

The existing knowledge about the genealogy and the ancestors of Blessed Anton Martin Slomšek, Prince-Bishop of Lavant (1800–1862), who had lived or originated in the Šalek Valley, is largely owed to two priests–Franc Kovačič (1867–1939) and especially Maks Goričar (1885–1941). The bishop’s grandfather Gašper Slomšek (ca. 1718–1779) moved to the Šalek Valley in the mid-eighteenth century from his native hamlet of Slom near Ponikva. The maiden name of his wife, Ana Apat, meaning abbot, was first documented in 1575 in her native village of Družmirje near Šoštanj. Ana Apat descended from a well-to-do tavernkeeper’s family in Družmirje, and her father Jakob was also the market-town dweller of Šoštanj, where his ancestors had most probably lived for at least two generations. At the end of the eighteenth century, the bishop’s father Marko and uncle Valentin Slomšek moved to Slom, where they took over their ancestors’ big farm, which subsequently became the home of Bishop Anton Martin Slomšek.