Daniel came to Catasauqua with his parents in 1846 and there he attended the public schools, being one of the first students to attend the Bridge Street School building when it first opened. He left school to work in the blacksmith shop of the Lehigh Crane Iron Works. At the outbreak of the Civil War he enlisted in Company C, 46th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. Mustering in on August 17, 1861, he reenlisted at the end of his three-year enlistment and he then served until the end of the war, mustering out on July 26, 1865, with the rank of Sergeant.

Upon returning home to Catasauqua he became an agent for the Central Railroad of New Jersey. He served in this capacity until November 5, 1879, when he received the superintendency of the Keystone Furnace at Chain Dam and when the Thomas Iron Company acquired the Keystone Furnace in 1882 he remained there as superintendent. On March 1, 1885 the Thomas Iron Company appointed Daniel Davis the superintendent of the Lock Ridge furnaces at Alburtis and from there he retired in 1909.

Daniel Davis was a life long Republican, casting his first ballot on the battlefield for Abraham Lincoln. He was a member of the First Presbyterian Church of Catasauqua and he served as a trustee. He was also a member of the Porter Lodge, F. and A. M., 284 of Catasauqua. Daniel Davis passed away in 1918 and his remains were interred at Fairview Cemetery. Gwenny (Williams) Davis also died in 1918 and her body was interred next to that of her husband.