John Baldwin, Sr., of Wheatley in Pendle Forest, co. Lancaster, England, of unknown origin, appears for the first known time in the records of the Marsden Monthly Meeting of Friends (Quakers) in the year 1675, when his residence was given as "Gisborn" (i.e., Gisburn), co. York. At that time, he was a member of the Sawley Meeting of Friends, one of the Preparative Meetings which was under the jurisdiction of the Marsden Monthly Meeting. On 29 July 1684, the constable of Rimington (in the parish of Gisburn) reported John Baldwin and his wife, along with other Quakers in the area, for being absent from church. This was a capital offense at the time. By 1693, he was said to be living at "Ing End", which has not been precisely identified, but was certainly one of the two places called "Ings End" and "Ing Ends", both of which are small villages not far south of Gisburn. In July of 1700, he was of "Old Laund" in Pendle Forest, when his house was certified as a religious meeting place according to the recently passed Act of Toleration. At the time of his death, he was of "Wheatley," in Pendle Forest.

John Baldwin Jr. (700) obtained leave to remove to Pennsylvania at a Preparative Meeting held at Marsden Height on 13 9mo. [Nov.] 1698. It is believed that John and his wife Jennet were among the passengers who came to America on the Britannia, along with John Baldwin's future second wife Ann Scott and her parents. The Britannia sailed from Liverpool, first arriving at Cork, Ireland where they took on provisions and sailed toward America before 20 3mo. [May] 1699. The voyage was a disastrous one, as a plague (probably yellow fever) broke out aboard the ship, and many of the passengers died at sea or soon after arriving in Philadelphia. The Britannia arrived in Philadelphia on 24 Aug 1699 with its sick and weak survivors. John Baldwin's occupation was a weaver, and Makefield township, Bucks co., PA was his place of residence.