# CHAPTER 14  
## FRAGMENTS OF THE LIFE HISTORY OF FUSENG-BE  
A Temne Woman Sold in Freetown, Sierra Leone<br>in the Early Nineteenth Century<br>Suzanne Schwarz  
Fuseng-be was among a number of adults and children sold illegally as slaves in the abolitionist colony of Sierra Leone in the early nineteenth century. References in colonial administrative records make it possible to trace aspects of the life history of this young Temne woman who was born in an area less than 80 kilometres to the north-east of Freetown in the early 1790s. Although Fuseng-be did not write a narrative of her experiences, her story is told in court records in Freetown after she lodged a complaint about her ill-treatment with an official at Fort Thornton in 1809.  
Fuseng-be, alias Betsey (also Fee Seng be, alias Betsey), was a young Temne woman of approximately 16 years of age, who was sold in Freetown, Sierra Leone, in 1808. Her sale took place less than four weeks after the settlement had been transferred to British Crown control on 1 January 1808. Her estimated age suggests that she was born in 1792 . This was the same year that over 1,100 Black Loyalist settlers from Nova Scotia arrived in Sierra Leone to start a new life free from slavery. As a result of a complaint, Fuseng-be, lodged with a Justice of the Peace at Fort Thornton in January 1809, the newly-appointed governor, Thomas Perronet Thompson, instigated an enquiry into her illegal purchase by one of these Nova Scotian settlers. The circumstances of her sale were examined in the newly formed Vice-Admiralty Court and reported in the colony's newspaper. In the course of proceedings, testimony given by various deponents revealed rare biographical information on aspects of Fuseng-be's