The Office of the Sheriff can trace its beginnings to early England and to Anglo-Saxon, King Alfred the Great.  In the 9^th century Alfred organized the country into “shires”, or counties.  The freemen of the shires banded together into a group of ten families called a “tything.”  These groups insured that any criminal would be delivered to the thane, or landowner.  The leaders of these groups were called the “tythingman.”  To complete the shire organization the tythings grouped themselves into 10 families or a “hundred.”  The tythingmen then elected a leader they called the “Reeve.”  William the Conquer changed the elected “Reeve” into an appointment of the King.

The Reeve became the King’s man in each shire; he enforced the laws, collected taxes, administered the courts and punished the guilty.  He replaced the Thane in responsibility and became known as the “Shire-Reeve” thus Sheriff.  The concept and term came across the Atlantic with the settlers of the New World.

The colonial sheriff was a complex and difficult character.  His power was enormous.  He was responsible for law enforcement functions by executing orders of the court, managing the jail and making arrests.  In addition, he was the county tax collector and treasurer, responsible for collecting all “quit rents,” levies and fees.  He held elections for burgess, summoned grand and petite juries, administered oaths and presided at vestry elections.  As an agent of the Governor, he published orders and proclamations and called up the officers of the Militia.  When pirates were captured, he passed on the orders of the Governor to the officers of the Militia and the Navy.  Sheriffs derived their income by retaining a portion of the taxes, fines, fees and levies collected.

Following the appointment by Lord Baltimore of the first sheriff, the monthly court appointed most sheriffs.  In 1664 the parliament decreed that each county was allocated one sheriff’s position.  Thus in 1664 Stafford County became one of the first counties in Colonial Virginia to appoint a sheriff.  Since that time a continuous line of sheriffs have served the citizens of the County, including the names of Mason and Washington.

After the Civil War, the Office of the Sheriff underwent a revision and was restricted to Law Enforcement, Court Operations and Jail Operations only.

The Sheriffs of Stafford County, Virginia

1664 – Present

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Sheriff Newman Knight 1907-1910, 1915-1918	Sheriff R.C.L. Moncure 1911-1914	Sheriff W.E. Curtis 1919-1947	Sheriff B.F. Burton 1956-1959
Sheriff A.R. MacGregor 1948-1955, 1960-1971	Sheriff R.L. Ashby 1972-1990	Sheriff R.M. Williams 1990-1999	Sheriff Charles E. Jett 2000-2016
Sheriff David P. Decatur, Jr. 2016 to Present