Vergennes Black sheriff honored in his birthplace

An unexpected phone call to Oakham, Mass., resident Larry Schuyler ultimately led to the installation of two historic markers — one in Vergennes, one in Virginia — highlighting Stephen Bates’s rise from slavery to become the first Black sheriff in the Northern United States.

Bixby to host online program on Black sheriff

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.

Vergennes to recognize Vt’s first Black sheriff, elected there in 1879

Vermont’s first known elected Black sheriff and chief of police, Stephen Bates, lived in Vergennes more than a century ago. Bates will be honored with the unveiling and dedication of an historic marker in Vergennes City Park.