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History and Progress of the County of Marion, West Virginia
by George A. Dunnington, Publisher 1880

Pen Sketches of Prominent Citizens
JUDGE A. F. HAYMOND

The subject of this sketch was born on the 15th day of
December, 1823, upon his father's farm, about three
miles from Fairmont. He is a son of Colonel Thomas S.
and Harriet A. Haymond. He attended the country schools
in the neighborhood of his home until he arrived at the
age of thirteen, when his father sent him to school at
the Morgantown Academy, which institution he attended
for about two years, and was then sent to the William
and Mary College, at Williamsburg, Virginia, for a term
of nine months. He did not return to the college after
this session, on account of ill health, but began the
study of law at home, and in the office of Edgar E.
Wilson, at Morgantown. In 1842, when he was but
nineteen years of age, he was admitted to the bar, and
immediately commenced the practice of law in Fairmont,
which profession he continued to follow here until the
breaking out of the Rebellion, serving in the meantime
for several years as Prosecuting Attorney of Marion
county. In the spring of 1853, he was elected a member
of the Virginia Legislature from this county, and again
in 1857. He was a delegate from Marion to the Virginia
Convention of 1861, and strongly opposed all movements
towards Secession. He continued to oppose Secession
until after that ordinance was passed and the war had
fairly commenced, when he felt in his conscience that
it was his duty to acquiesce, and go with his native
State. He accordingly acted upon the promptings of his
conscience and entered the field against the Union
early in January, 1862. He remained in the military
service of the south until the surrender of General Lee
at Appomatox Court House, in April, 1865, when he was
surrendered and paroled with Lee's army. He returned to
Fairmont in June, 1865, and shortly afterwards resumed
the practice of law. Mr. Haymond, however, was soon
prohibited from the practice of his profession in the
State courts by the "lawyer's test oath." Sometime
afterwards, on a petition of Union citizens of Marion
and Monongalia counties, the Legislature of West
Virginia passed a special act permitting him to
practice in the State courts without taking the test
oath, this being the first act of the kind passed by
the Legislature. By an act of Congress he was
afterwards relieved of his political disabilities,
incurred by reason of his participation in the
Rebellion. In 1872, Mr. Haymond was a member of the
constitutional convention at Charleston, West Virginia,
and on the 22d of August, of the same year, was elected
a Judge of the Supreme Court of Appeals of the State,
In October, 1876, he was re-elected to this high office
for a term of twelve years, commencing January 1, 1877.
He is one of the most popular men in the State, and at
the late election received a very large majority over
his opponents, running considerably "ahead of his
ticket." He was ever popular as a lawyer and as a
citizen, and in the position which he now holds, he
gives universal satisfaction, being one of the ablest
jurists in the State, and one of the most dignified and
learned Judges upon the bench. He is a man of whom his
fellow citizens in Marion county are proud, because of
his many intellectual and social qualities, as well as
of his great popularity throughout the State.