He was the father of railroad magnate Richard H. Koch and served as a Union soldier in the Civil War.
[4] On October 24, 1839, Daniel married Miss Mary Ann Beck who was "from an old and prominent family in Pennsylvania."
[5] After his marriage to Mary, the family moved to Middleport, Pennsylvania, where Koch joined in the mercantile business.
He stumped the county with a number of influential men, including Anson Burlingame, Governor Andrew Gregg Curtin, George Francis Train, and others.
He was nominated and elected to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in 1860, as a Republican, where he was considered "a very popular public speaker and valued member of his party.
Daniel's oldest son Francis served for three years in the Union Army against the Confederates as a company commander, gaining the rank of captain.