Richard Frethorne (c. 1610–c. 1623/4) was an indentured servant in the colony of Virginia, one of thousands of poor people who emigrated from England to work in the tobacco fields of America. Frethorne was forced into servitude and migration due to his family's poverty. His labor contract, or indenture, was sold by his parish to the governor of Martin's Hundred, one of the largest plantations in Virginia. Frethorne, who wrote this letter when he was about twelve years old, was unusual in that he was both poor and literate. He lived on the plantation, near Colonial Williamsburg, until his death, sometime before February 16, 1624.