John Klawitter

This recreation of an early pioneer log cabin was built for the Sauk Trail Pageant in Richton Park, Illinois circa 1923.

John and Mary Klawitter on the Weishaar farm in Illinois, behind the farmhouse (1942). Mary is looking for bugs to put in John's hair.

John Michael and Elizabeth Weishaar Family & Friends in Illinois circa 1910: Back Row, l to r: Elizabeth Weishaar nee Fuches (Fox), Agatha Weishaar, unknown girl, Helen Weishaar, priest, George Weishaar, William "Bill" Weishaar, John Michael Weishaar
Middle Row, l to r: the twins who became nuns, Sister Agathena and Sister Bonavita. Lucy Rose Weishaar, Frank Polignat (?) with dog.
People in photo include: Helen Weishaar, George Weishaar, and Frank Polignat

Agatha Weishaar (here, in 1922) wanted to move 30 miles away to the wicked city of Chicago Illinois to become a writer. When the family disapproved, she married Mr. Carroll, who proved to be addicted to drugs. You can see the spire of St. Ann's church in the background, where her brother Bill and Frank Polignat first spotted the devildogs. Reference, THE DEVILDOGS OF OLD SAUK TRAIL, by John Michael Klawitter

Weishaar farm Park Forest, Illinois: Artifacts belonging to John Michael Weishaar and one church door key from St. Anns prairie chapel on Sauk Trail just west of the Weishaar farm homestead. This key was in the possession of the Weishaars as they were custodians of the prairle church when the traveling priest was not there. St. Anns is the church around which, legends tell us, the devildogs howled in frustration, not being able to take the soul of a man who had fallen away from the church but was cleverly buried on ground where the bishop had accidentally dropped a few drops of holy water.

St Ann's newspaper clipping from the Chicago Heights (Illinois) Star: St. Ann, located West of Rich Township High on Sauk Trail in Park Forest on the site of the St Annes cemetery. The cemetery was the burial site for early pioneers before it was consecrated by a Catholic bishop in 1852, and was an indian burial grounds before that. The migratory Sauk indians had an encampment south of Sauk trail, and many arrowheads were found by the Weishaars during the spring plowing. Homeowners in this area should be on the lookout; they still occasionally turn up.

Weishaar Family and Homestead in Park Forest, Illinois in the 1890s. I commissioned this painting by Disney artist Paul Wenzel in the early 1980's when I worked at the studio in Burbank. Paul did it as an independent artist and I personally paid him $300.. It is drawn from a projection of an old photo, and is accurate as to all details. The people in the picture are Weishaar family members. John Michael Weishaar proudly sits on his horse team. This farm was located directly east and south of the St Anne's Church and cemetery on Sauk Trail, on both sides of the trail. - John Michael Klawitter

Glaeser & Campe Store General Store, Cook County, Illinois in 1909: View looking NE across Sauk Trail. To the left, out of frame in this picture, is the Illinois Central railroad track, which remains to this day. The house to the right of the Campe store has been moved a time or two, but still existed as a coffee shop in 2010.

The Campe family were early settlers in the Richton Park area. Margaret Campe married Ed Klawitter. Her mother "Old Mrs. Campe", was one of the last pioneer ancestors buried in the St Anne's Cemetery. There was a great fuss, as the paperwork seemed to 'have been misplaced' at a time when burials were being discouraged at that location. But Old Mrs Campe was not to be denied and they had to find room for her. This photo is taken looking N.E across Sauk Trail, just East of where the Illinois Central RR tracks cut across Sauk Trail. One of the houses to the east (right in the photo) still exists, though it has been moved a time or two, to widen the road, and was as of 2010 still in use as a coffee house. Ed Klawitter and his wife Margaret raised their family in this house, in the 1940's, 50's, & 60's. Ed Klawitter, a popular man with a pleasant nature, was mayor of Richton Park for a time and a local park bears his name.

Postcard of the Chicago Heights, Illinois Library built with money donated by Andrew Carnegie in 1903.

Peter Weishaar's naturalization papers in Cook County, Illinois in 1848. He immigrated from Alsace Lorraine in 1843 to settle in Northern Illinois. This is the paper where he swears off allegiance to the King of France (Alsace Lorraine was traditionally a German area, and the Weishaars all spoke German and were of German ancestory, but at this time it was a French province, due to wars and shifting borders)
People in photo include: Peter Weishaar

Lucy Rose Weishaar in 1929 in Cook County Illinois, before she married John Emil Klawitter, sits proudly at the wheel of her new automobile, a Ford coupe.

William Weishaar, Park Forest, Illinois in 1952: In the 1950's when the developers came out from Chicago to build Park Forest, William "Bill" Weishaar, grandson of Michael Weishaar who homesteaded the land, was told his farm had been 'rezoned'. He could stay, but would now have to pay taxes on each lot as if it was developed with houses on it. Forced to sell, he decided to try his hand farming in Southern California. But his wife Tillie missed her friends, so they returned to build a home in Steger on W 34th Street.

Helen Weishaar 1st communion in Chicago Heights, Illinois in 1894: Helen Weishaar married Joe Thiel. Joe had a farm 'across the border' from Illinois in Crown Point, Indiana. Helen and Joe had a nice family (Bill, Clarence, Elizabeth, Francis, George...am I forgetting anybody?) and they all married and had families of their own. You can read about Joe Thiel in WWI (he nearly died from a poison gas attack, may have fallen in love, caught fever and nearly died yet one more time before he was honorably discharged)...read about him in my book The Devildogs of Old Sauk Trail. - John Michael Klawitter

John Michael Weishaar & Elizabeth (Fuches or Fox) Weishaar of Illinois (1885) farmed the lands on Sauk Trail deeded by JMW's grandfather and father. This acreage was east and south of the St. Anne's Priaire Chapel on Sauk Trail, east of Richton Park. St. Annes burned down and was replaced with a similar chapel, called St. Ann's. The cemetery remains to this day, where are buried many members of the original pioneer families; the Scheidts, the Foxes, the Blattners, the Weishaars,, to name a few.

St Ann's Prairie Church, Park Forest, Illinois circa 1920. This could be from as early as 1910. Hard to tell. Easter decorations on St Ann's Church, once located where St Ann's cemetery still is today, on Sauk Trail in Park Forest, just west of the high school

In the early 1940's, Robert Klavitter married Clara Sievers. (1941, Chicago Heights, Illinois)
People in photo include: Clara (Sievers) Klawitter

Robert Klawitter grows vegetables: Nobody in the family could grow more on such a small plot of garden. Photo taken in 1956 in Chicago Heights, Illinois.

Robert Reinhold Klawitter & his faithful dog Cap (in Steger Illinois in 1935), photo taken on the south side of the 2 car garage built by RRK, once located at 3004 Chicago Rd, Steger, IL

The twins Anna and Stella Weishaar flank Lucy Rose Weishaar as they pose in Cook County Illinois in 1911.
People in photo include: Stella Weishaar and Anna Weishaar