A HISTORICAL MARKER honoring Stephen Bates, the first known Black sheriff in Vermont, was the product of two years of research into his life. Bixby Memorial Library will host a virtual program on Bates Saturday, Feb. 26, from 1-2:30 p.m.
Stephen Bates was born into slavery in 1842 on Virginia’s Shirley Plantation. Fourteen years after the Civil War, he was elected sheriff of Vergennes, a position which he would hold for all but six of the next 29 years.
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