The first Baptist church organized in America was founded by Roger Williams in Rhode Island in 1638.

John Smyth formed the first Baptist Church around 1610 in Holland.

There appears to be more than one version over who founded the Baptist Church and where. Johannes Warns states that the first independent Baptist Church was that at Augsburg, Germany, in about 1524. Others see the Baptists as a separation from the Church of England in the early 1600s. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baptist#Origins These sources indicate that - Those credited with being the most responsible for the development of the modern Baptist denomination of Christianity were English Puritan John Smyth (c. 1554-1612) in 1609 and Roger Williams in Rhode Island in 1638. Events Leading to the Founding of the Baptist Church in England - John Smyth was ordained as an Anglican priest in 1594 in England. Soon after his ordination, he broke with the Church of England and left for Holland where he and his small congregation began to study the Bible ardently. In the beginning, Smyth was closely aligned with his Anglican heritage. As time passed, his views evolved - First, Smyth insisted that true worship was from the heart and that any form of reading from a book in worship was an invention of sinful man. This rejection of liturgy still remains strong among many Baptists today. Prayer, singing. and preaching had to be completely spontaneous. He went so far with this mentality that he would not allow the reading of the Bible during worship on the grounds that a translation was "the worke of a mans witt and therefore not to be brought into the worship of God to be read.” This idea stemmed from the belief that worship should be ordered by the Spirit. Second, Smyth introduced a twofold church leadership, that of pastor and deacon. This was in contrast to the Reformational trifold leadership of Pastor-Elder, Lay-Elders, and Deacons. Third, Smyth, along with a group in Holland, came to believe in the believer's baptism (as opposed to infant baptism) in 1609. Having been baptized as infants, they all realized that they would have to be re-baptized. Since there was no other minister to administer baptism, Smyth baptized himself and then proceeded to baptize his flock. However, shortly thereafter, Smyth left the group, and Thomas Helwys took over the leadership. Helwys and his followers began to formulate the earliest Baptist confessions of faith. This ‘confession’ became the 27 articles in ‘A Declaration of Faith of English people remaining at Amsterdam in Holland’. Despite the obvious risks involved, Helwys and twelve Baptist émigrés returned to England in 1611 to speak out against religious persecution, at which time the group became known as "Separatists". Ironically, before his death in 1612, Smyth moved away from his Baptist views and began trying to bring his flock into the Mennonite church. This brought about a separation between Smyth and the group which was led by Thomas Helwys. Although he died before this happened, most of Smyth's congregation did join themselves with the Mennonite church after his death. Thomas Helwys and his followers founded the first Baptist congregation on English soil in Spitalfields, England, in the east end of London, in 1612. That same year, Helwys was able to publish ‘The Mystery of Iniquity’. He wrote an appeal to King James I arguing for the "liberty of conscience" and sent him a copy of his book. "The King is a mortal man and not God," Helwys said, "therefore he hath no power over the mortal soul of his subjects to make laws and ordinances for them and to set spiritual Lords over them". The King had Helwys thrown in Newgate prison, where he had died by 1616 at about the age of forty. As a result of these events, Thomas Helwys is credited with having founded the first Baptist church in Spitalfields, London, England in 1612. This view of Baptist origins has the most historical support and is the most widely accepted view of Baptist origins. The churches that descended from Smyth and Helwys were of the "General Baptist" persuasion. The Baptist Church in America - In America, Roger Williams (1603–1683) an English theologian, is credited for originating a Baptist church, in Providence, Rhode Island, in 1639, which still survives as the First Baptist Church in America. However, he is known to have left soon afterwards, exclaiming, "God is too large to be housed under one roof." At about the same time, John Clarke, Williams’ compatriot in the cause of religious freedom in the New World, established a Baptist church in Newport, Rhode Island. "There is much debate over the centuries as to whether the Providence or Newport church deserved the place of 'first' Baptist congregation in America. Exact records for both congregations are lacking." Therefore, both Roger Williams and John Clarke are variously credited as being the founder of the Baptist faith in America. http://atheism.about.com/od/baptistssouthernbaptists/a/baptisthistory.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Smyth_%281570%E2%80%931612%29#Ordination http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Williams_(theologian) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Clarke_%281609-1676%29 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Helwys#Helwys.E2.80.99_Christian_mission http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mennonites

The common answer is the one you see in Wikipedia. However, the history of the Baptist church is much deeper than the establishment of the Protestant movement. In actuality, those who held to the doctrine of modern Baptists have been around since the time of Christ. Cardinal Gibbons and Patrick J. Healy in the book, "Crossing the Centuries" (1912), wrote: "Of the Baptists it may be said they are not reformers. These people comprising bodies of Christian believers known under various names in different countries, entirely distinct and independent of the Roman and Greek 'churches' have had an unbroken continuity of existence from apostolic days through the centuries. Throughout this long period they were bitterly persecuted for heresy, driven from country to country, disfranchised, deprived of their property, imprisoned, tortured and slain by the thousands, yet they yet they swerved not from their New Testament faith, doctrine and adherence." Zwingli wrote: "The institution of Ana-Baptism is no novelty, but for thirteen hundred years has caused great disturbance in the 'church'." The Ana-Baptists went by a number of names since the dawn of Christianity: Messalians, Montanists, Euchites, Novatianists, Paulicans, Waldenses, Paterines, Albigenses, Cathari, Lyonists, Arnoldites and Anabaptists. Not to mention the possibility of others that history is yet to reveal. The Anabaptists were ones who had little written by them survive over the years. Most of their writings were burnt (often times along side their authors). They were persecuted on every front. The Catholics killed them, the Lutherans killed them, the Church of England killed them. That is why so many flocked to the new world when it opened up, they were seeking freedom from persecution. It was the Baptists you can thank for the freedom to worship in the First Amendment. Read the letter Jefferson wrote to the Danbury Baptist Association. http://www.loc.gov/loc/lcib/9806/danpre.html I hope this helps you better understand the true history of the Baptists. Sources: Library of Congress Online www.loc.gov. "The House of God: A Blood Bought Body" by Frank A. Godsoe. For further study read: "A History of the Baptists" by John T. Christian. "Why I Am a Baptist" by Clarence Larkin.