Enslaved by the Malbones, a prominent Rhode Island seafaring family whose members were deeply engaged in the West Indies Trade, Sias was described as a “negro boy” in a 1764 quitclaim deed from Godfrey Malbone Sr. to his sons, Godfrey Jr. and John. At some point, Sias moved from Newport to Pomfret, CT (now Brooklyn), where he lived and labored alongside at least 20 other enslaved persons on the Malbones’ estate. He and those he was enslaved alongside are credited with building Old Trinity Church, an Anglican church built at the behest of Godfrey Malbone Jr., a Loyalist and Anglican. On September 23, 1775 an advertisement in the Providence Gazette indicates that Sias had “deserted from his master’s service.” A one guinea reward was offered for his return to Godfrey Malbone Jr. or John Malbone. At some point Sias must have returned, either by his own volition or through someone else’s actions because later records suggest he was sold or perhaps indentured to John Dorrance from Voluntown. In a later letter to his brother, Godfrey Malbone writes to say that “Master Sias” had escaped from John Dorrance of Voluntown. At that point the record runs cold.