Haymond Alpheus Alltop (1892-1979)

Portrait from the West Virginia Blue Book, 1941.

  A three-term member of the West Virginia House of Delegates from Marion County, Haymond Alpheus Alltop resided in the same city as former West Virginia Governor Aretas Brooks Fleming, who was profiled a few days ago. While there is a dearth of resources mentioning Alltop, enough has been located to compile a small profile on his life. Born in Gilmer County, West Virginia on June 14, 1892, Haymond Alpheus Alltop was the son of Alpheus and Rebecca (Miller) Alltop. Given the unusual name Haymond Alpheus upon his birth, Alltop's first and middle names may have a connection to Alpheus Forest Haymond (1823-1893), a Fairmont, West Virginia resident who had earlier served in the Virginia House of Delegates, the Virginia Secession Convention and for many years was a judge of the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals.

  A student in the public schools, Alltop would go on to study at the West Virginia Business College and married on May 15, 1912, to Mona Ann Satterfield (1895-1966), to whom he was wed for over fifty years. The couple would have at least four children, including Kenneth Alpheus (1913-1987), Kathleen (born ca. 1916), Theresa Mae (1917-2001), and Ruby (1919-2002).

  Following his marriage, Haymond A. Alltop was employed by the Fairmont Mining Machinery Co. in the mid-1910s and was a member of that company's baseball team, serving as a pitcher. He would later enter into a two-decade-long career as a machinist in the employ of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Co. While little biographical material exists in regards to Alltop's life prior to his legislative service, the West Virginia Blue Book denotes his prominence in labor circles in the state, as he served five years as the president of the Monongahela Valley Trades and Labor Council, and was the vice president of both the West Virginia Industrial Union Council (serving 1937-40) and the West Virginia Federation of Labor. 

   In November 1938 Haymond Alltop was elected as one of three Marion County representatives to the West Virginia House of Delegates, garnering 12,889 votes on election day. Taking his seat at the start of the 1939-41 session, Alltop proved to be busy as a freshman legislator, being named to the committees on Elections and Privileges, Federal Relations, Forestry and Conservation, Insurance, Labor, and the Military. In November 1940 he won a second term in the legislature (receiving 20,039 votes) and in 1942 was elected to his third term with 8,981 votes.

  Little information could be found on the remainder of Alltop's life, except a mention of his brief flirtation with a run for the state senate in 1952. Widowed in 1966, Alltop survived his wife Mona by thirteen years, dying at age 86 in April 1979. Both were interred at the Mount Zion Cemetery in Fairmont.