Daniel Baker was born on August 17, 1791, in Midway, Georgia.

However, due to the War of 1812, he transferred to the Princeton University, and graduated in 1815.

[2] Baker started his career as a Presbyterian minister in Harrisonburg and New Erection, Virginia, in 1818.

[1] Later, he preached in Victoria, Cuero, Clinton, Goliad, Gonzales, New Braunfels, Bastrop, Wharton, Columbia, Port Lavaca, La Grange, Palestine, Brownsville, Rio Grande City, as well as cities like Austin and San Antonio.

[1] He hired Samuel McKinney, an Irish-born Presbyterian minister who had founded the Chalmers Institute, as the first president of Austin College from 1850 to 1853.