About  a  month  later  the  new  society  began  its  separate  exist-
ence, and  provided  for  preaching;  but  not  until  April  19,  1758,
after  a  meeting  house  had  been  built  and  John  Smalley  secured
as  the  first  pastor,  was  the  church  organized,  in  which  fifty
members  from  Kensington  united  with  seventeen  from  New-
ington. The  list  of  members  as  given  by  Mr. Clark  in  1756,
excepting  those  who  belonged  to  the  New  Britain  Society,
taking  account  of  some  errors,  shows  that  there  remained  about


41

one  hundred  and  seventy-four  members  in  the  Kensington
Church. Some  of  the  reasons  for  division  are  given  in  a  peti-
tion of  1753 :

"The  present  meeting  house  is  full  &  much  crowded  in  ye  summer  time,
so  yt  people  are  forst  to  shift  from  seat  to  seat  to  find  a  place  to  sit  down,
&  often  move  from  ye  Galiry  down  below  to  find  room;  &  also  ye  dome  is
so  impaired  yt  it  must  be  covered  anew  in  a  short  time :. and  their  is  60
or  70  children  born  in  a  year  in  said  society  which  maks  so  large  an  increase
yt  it  is  impossible  that  we  should  meet  long  in  said  house,  unless  some
sweeping  sickness  should  Depresheate  ye  people;  which  tho  we  have  reason
to  fear,  we  pray  may  be  averted. And  ye  Meeting  Hows  stands  on  an
island,  whear  there  is  but  nine  houses  on  it  and  rivers  all  round  the  same
which  often  flood  in  some  places  in  ye  roads:. and  ye  roads  near  half  of  ye
year  are  so  miry  &  broken  for  a  mile  or  two  Round  said  meeting  hows  yt
make  it  very  difficult  traviling  &  som  times  Dangerous  and  many  have  been
plunged  into  them  to  ye  Japerding  their  Helthe  &  many  of  us  live  so  remote
from  said  meeting  Hows  yt  it  is  impossible  for  many  of  us  to  git  to  meeting
&  yt  some  of  us  have  lived  in  said  Sosiety  above  forty  year  and  Groned
under  ye  burden. 