U.S. Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ -- USGenNet Inc. -- Please read the U.S. Data Repository Copyright Statement on the following page: --------------------------------------------------------------------- Haymond, Alpheas F. (1823-1893) --------------------------------------------------------------------- Source: Bench and Bar of West Virginia Author: Geo Wesley Atkinson, LL.B., LL. D. Virginia Law Book Company; Charleston, W.Va.; 1919 Pages 44-46, Judge Alpheus F. Haymond Judge Haymond, son of Col. Thomas S. and Harriet A. Haymond, was born on a farm near Fairmont, Marion County, Virginia, December 15, 1823. His early life was uneventful, but even in his youth he showed the vigor of thought and bold independence characteristic of subsequent years. Until the age of thirteen he attended school near his home, then went to Morgantown, Monongalia County Academy, where he remained two years, then to William and Mary College, Williamstown, Virginia, where he remained for a few terms. He read law with Edgar E. Wilson, of Morgantown, and was admitted to the Bar in 1842 when only nineteen years of age. He soon became recognized as an able lawyer, and had secured a paying practice before the Civil War. In early life he revealed a liking for politics. In 1853, and again in 1857, he was elected a member of the Legislature of Virginia from Marion County, and in 1861 he was a member of the Virginia Convention, and opposed Secession; but after the State seceded he entered the Confederate Army and remained therein until after the surrender of General Lee at Appomattox, when he returned to his home at Fairmont and resumed his law practice, which rapidly grew to large proportions. Being a strong lawyer he was appropriately chosen a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1872 to frame a new Constitution for the State of West Virginia, in which he figured conspicuously and ably. At the first election under that revised Constitution he was elected a member of the Supreme Court of Appeals of the State; served ably thereon until 1876, when he was re-elected to the same position for the full term of twelve years. He was a just and able judge. He wrote many opinions, all of which reveal honesty of purpose and determination to deal out justice without fear or favor. He was most careful in the preparation of his opinions, because he knew that hasty, ill-considered decisions by Appellate Courts are unprofitable to the public, unreliable as precedents and authority for the legal profession or the citizen, and discreditable to the court that makes them. Consequently he labored zealously to get at the facts, merits and law of every case he passed upon, or was decided by any of his associates on the Appellate Bench during his membership of the Court. He was necessarily an untiring worker, so much so that he found his health giving way under the necessary strain of the daily grind, and he decided to abandon his work upon the bench; consequently he resigned the position January 1, 1883, which he had so ably filled for ten years, and retired to private life. Judge Haymond was a Democrat, a man of medium height, heavy build, face of a round contour, of agreeable and graceful manners, and of even temper. In his later years his practice was confined exclusively to the Supreme Court. He departed this life December 15, 1893, thus ending a distinguished and useful career. He was a married man and had an interesting family. One of his sons is now judge of the Circuit Court of Marion County, and is a lawyer of acknowledged ability, and a safe and reliable jurist. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Additional Information: --------------------------------------------------------------------- 1880 Census, Marion County WV ED:86, Fairmont Ind Sch District, Page No. 32 Lines 7-15, Dwelling 293, Family 294 HAYMOND, Alpheas, 56, Judge Court of Appeals, Va-Va-Va ", Maria F, 51, wife, Keeping house, Va-Va-Va ", Jennie, 17, dau, At-school, Va-Va-Va ", Julia, 14, dau, At-school, WV-Va-Va ", Thomas, 10, son, At-school, WV-Va-Va ", Lilly, 7, dau, WV-Va-Va PYLES, Melinda, 23, Servant, Va-Va-Va ", Cora, 4, dau, WV-Va-Va ", Lindsay, 1, son, WV-Va-Va ---------------------------------------------------------------------