Story · About the author
Anna Lockwoodová
born Šenšelová · Anna's great-grandniece · author of this website
A creative soul, mother of three, and discoverer of family treasures.
Story · About the author
born Šenšelová · Anna's great-grandniece · author of this website
A creative soul, mother of three, and discoverer of family treasures.
It was curiosity that led me to the story of my great-aunt Anna Šenšelová, and a discovery in my grandparents' cellar: two carrier bags full of old embroideries. I had spent years doing embroidery myself (modern embroidery, nothing like the traditional folk patterns), so holding these meticulously worked pieces of history in my hands filled me with an overwhelming admiration for our ancestors, for the women whose hands could make something like this.
I had never paid much attention to folk culture or traditional dress, but this was the moment that changed everything. I immediately thought of my grandfather Ivan Šenšel's autobiography. I have to admit, with a little embarrassment, that I had never actually read it all the way through. Now I understand: I simply hadn't grown into it yet. This time I read his life story in a completely different way. I devoured it more hungrily than any bestseller I had ever picked up.
So many of his stories made me laugh out loud. I could picture him so clearly, getting up to every kind of mischief as a little boy, and again as a grown, perfectly serious man. What struck me most was that he had no shame in naming and describing his own failings. That disarming honesty gave me a kind of freedom, a feeling that we do not always have to pretend we are perfect.
That disarming honesty gave me a kind of freedom: a feeling that we do not always have to pretend we are perfect.
Through my grandfather Ivan Šenšel's autobiography, Občas slnko, občas hrmavica (Sometimes Sun, Sometimes Thunder), the memoir of my great-grandfather Ľudovít Šenšel, and the family publication Šenšelovský rod (The Šenšel Line), I travelled back a hundred years and more and came to know my ancestors in vivid detail. But the embroideries stayed with me. I wanted to unravel the mystery of how they had found their way into my grandparents' cellar, and what they actually were.
Zuzka then pointed me towards Stanko Talapka, and when I reached him I could not believe how readily he offered to help. He invited me straight to Martin, where the trail of Aunt Anna led. So I got on the train and went. He walked me through the individual embroideries, estimated their origin and purpose, told me the story of Lipa, and even brought a shirt from their workshop to show me. My father and I also had the pleasure of seeing a beautiful Karol Plicka exhibition and the permanent folk costume collection at the Slovak National Museum.
Just as some things in life can look catastrophic at first, time has a way of showing they were often the best thing that could have happened. In autumn 2025 my corporate job was cut, and as a mother of three I found new work hard to come by. With every fresh rejection my confidence took another knock. But the time out of work gave me the space to go deep into the family history and the story of Lipa.
In the end I told myself it was time to take my fate into my own hands. I began teaching myself web design with the help of AI, and I saw it as the perfect chance to give form to everything I had gathered during my search, and to try something new at the same time. This way, at least in some small measure, I can help ensure that the work of our ancestors is not forgotten.
Once I set myself the goal of building this site, my detective work picked up a whole new pace. At 38, I came to know my twice-removed cousin Ján Juráš, a deeply well-read and wonderfully passionate man who has been a source of help from the very first moment. I also found my way to Oľga Kapustová, my third cousin, and I very much hope this is only the beginning.
I believe that knowing your own past is one of the most enriching things you can do. It is like finding a missing piece of a puzzle that has always been part of you, because every generation before us planted something in the next, and so we are all bound together by a single thread, even when we have no idea it is there.
I am, at heart, a creative person. After studying marketing at university, I spent two years living with my husband in Scotland, in a romantic little cottage out in the countryside, where our first daughter Amelia was born. When she was three months old we moved back to Slovakia: first to Liptov, then to Bratislava, briefly back to Liptov (where our son Teo was born), and twelve years ago we finally put down roots in Senec. Three years ago our second daughter Charlotte was born here.
Alongside all of this I love the garden, baking, and our two dogs. And when time allows, a run is the quickest way to clear my head.
I have never been able to stay with just one technique. All my life I have cycled through bursts of intense excitement for something new. Art has always been my passion, and now I know why: it is in my blood.
Since I started exploring my own ancestors, people, friends and complete strangers alike, have been confiding in me: remarkable, utterly fascinating memories of grandparents, great-grandparents, even great-great-grandparents. Every single story is entirely its own.
I believe these stories should not be left to fade away. That is why I decided to build a map of memories on this website. I would be eternally grateful if you added a piece of your own family past, so we can enrich each other with the real lives of the people who shaped who we are today.
View the Map of Memories"When you know where you come from, you discover where you can go."— Anna Lockwoodová