06/19/2026
To celebrate Juneteenth, Delco Historical Society would like to share the story of Allen Ricketts of Darby. Ricketts was born sometime in 1820, enslaved in Maryland. Ricketts managed to escape enslavement at the age of 11, making his way to Darby, PA. Upon arriving in Darby, Ricketts was taken in John and Rachel Hunt, a Quaker family, and was educated at Darby Friends School.
In 1847, while Ricketts was working as a farmer at the Sharon Boarding Academy, he was kidnapped and taken to Baltimore and sold to the notorious enslaver Hope H. Slatter. Ricketts, who was literate, was able to write a letter to a friend in Darby, George Truman, and urged him for his help. Truman went to noted Maryland abolitionist John Needles for his help to negotiate for Ricketts freedom. Slatter refused to free Ricketts unless he was paid $800 by the following week. Darby minister John Jackson helped to spread the news to the people of Darby. The residents of Darby, led by the Darby Monthly Meeting, raised the $800, and after two weeks of enslavement, Ricketts was returned to Darby.
By 1860, Ricketts was married and working as a coach driver in Elmwood Park. In 1870, he moved his family to Darby, where he lived until he passed away at the age of 91 in 1910. Allen Ricketts was laid to rest at Eden Cemetery in Collingdale. His daughter, Estelle Ricketts, was an accomplished pianist, and her 1893 parlor piano piece "Rippling Spring Waltz" is the earliest known piano solo written and published by a Black woman. The Ricketts family is one of the most incredible stories of Black history in Delaware County.
From the Archives:
-A Copy of "Boyd's Directory: Delaware County, Pennsylvania, 1902-1903" where it lists Allen Ricketts of Darby residing at 115. N. 10th Street.
-We have two copies of this directory dating from 1906, compiled by Lawrence L. Barrett and C.I. Wilson, titled: "Home Directory of the Colored People of the City of Chester". The directory not only has home addresses, but descriptions about local clubs, churches, businesses and more, all based within the Black community of Chester.
- A copy of the story of Allen Ricketts and his escape as it was reported in the Mercury, Merseyside, England on June 29, 1847.
