the diocese was founded in 1790 by two clergy and five members of the laity, representatives of the four charter churches of the diocese, king's church in providence (1722), trinity church in newport (1698), st. paul's in north kingstown (1707), and st. michael's in bristol (1720). without sufficient resources to support a bishop of their own, they elected samuel seabury, who was bishop of connecticut, to hold the office of bishop of rhode island as well. under rhode island's third bishop, alexander viets griswold, the episcopal church in rhode island expanded from 200 communicants in four parishes to almost 2,000 in seventeen parishes. this growth continued under the next two bishops, john p. k. henshaw and thomas m. clark, and this trend was supported by the immigration of many english anglicans. by the end of the 19th century, the diocese had grown to 35 parishes.