Happy, William W.

Born: 1806-09-15 Kentucky

Died: 1875-05-03 Illinois

Flourished: Morgan County, Illinois

Happy moved to Jacksonville, Illinois, in 1830. From 1836 to 1840, he represented Morgan County in the Illinois House of Representatives. After leaving the House of Representatives, Happy was postmaster of Jacksonville, serving in that capacity from 1845 to 1849. At eighteen, Happy became a Baptist; soon after moving to Jacksonville, he joined the Christian Church movement of Barton W. Stone (Disciples of Christ). In the 1830s, Happy became an ordained minister of the Christian Church and schoolteacher in the Jacksonville area.

Gravestone, Jacksonville East Cemetery, Jacksonville, IL; U.S. Census Office, Seventh Census of the United States (1850), Morgan County, IL, 183-84; Illinois House Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 4; Illinois House Journal. 1837. 10th G. A., special sess., 4; Illinois House Journal. 1838. 11th G. A., 1st sess., 4; Illinois House Journal. 1839. 11th G. A., special sess., 4; Record of Appointment of Postmasters, 1832-1971, NARA Microfilm Publication, M841, 145 rolls, Records of the Post Office Department, RG 28, 1845-1855, 18:144, National Archives Building, Washington, DC; Nathaniel S. Haynes, History of the Disciples of Christ in Illinois, 1819-1914 (Cincinnati: Standard, 1915), 102, 338-39, 526-27.