Estelle Ricketts

Estelle Ricketts (c. 1867 – after April 1, 1940) was an American composer. Personal life Ricketts was born in Darby, Pennsylvania, which is now a suburb of Philadelphia. Her parents were Allen and Mary (Carroll) Ricketts. Allen was born into slavery in Maryland and self emancipated about age 11. He ended up in Darby, Pennsylvania, and taken in by Quakers, John and Rachel Hunt, where he worked as their gardener and chore boy. There he was educated at the Darby Friends School. He graduated and became a farmer at the Sharon Boarding Academy. In June of 1847, Allen was tricked, kidnapped, and taken to Baltimore and sold to a slave trader named Hope H. Slatter. Because Allen was literate, he was able to write a letter to George S. Truman, a friend back in Darby. Upon receiving the letter, Truman went with a friend, John Needles, to find Slatter and bargain for Allen’s release. Slatter agreed to take $800 for the release of Allen, but only if the money was provided by the same day the following week. With the help of Darby Monthly Meeting minister, John Jackson, they were able to get word out about Allen’s kidnapping and they had soon collected $500 from residents of Darby, with a wealth