The Lives of Two Indentured Slaves

The Lives of Two Indentured Slaves

Often, people became indentured slaves due to hardships that were inevitable during their time. Two examples of such people are John Harrower and Richard Frethorne. While John Harrower lived a somewhat respectable and comfortable life as and indentured servant, Richard Frethorne had a much more difficult time. One reason for this may be because of their time differences; Jon Harrower is from the late 1700s, while Richard Frethorne is from the mid 1600s. Between John Harrower and Richard Frethorne , there are several similarities and contrasting differences which classify them both as indentured slaves living very different lives. Both men experienced similar hardships, different home lives and conditions, and also similar and different physical and emotional situations and feelings.

To begin, both Harrower and Frethorne initially experienced similar hardships. They both ultimately had no choice but to get on a vessel and sail to Virginia. In addition to their actual journey, both men had to pay a finance in order to come to America. While it is very true that John Harrower had a considerably better life than Frethorne, he still at first had to work hard in order to keep his place and work his way up. Also, Harrower and Frethorne both had to deal with the pain of leaving their families behind. In an excerpt from Harrower’s journal, dated 1773, he said, “This morning I left my house and family at 4 o’clock in order to travel in search of business and immediately went on board a sloop ready to sail for Leith. Any who read this can plainly see that Harrower, like Frethorne, missed his family immensely.

Secondly, Frethorne and Harrower lived under vastly different conditions and environments. When Richard Frethorne first went to Jamestown, Virginia it was not a colonized area. Being in the early 1600s, there weren’t even any established businesses or buildings. He ultimately had to perform harder labor. Also, because of the lack of colonization, he often fought with Indians, both over land settlement and labor. John Harrower on the other hand, had clothes to wear and food to eat, he had a comfortable home, and since he lived over one hundred year’s. After Frethorne, was in a more colonized and settled Virginia. In contrast, Frethorne had next to nothing. As he said in the letter he wrote to his family, “There is indeed some fowl,