This remarkable man was born in the Old Dominion, Culpeper County. The date of his birth is not known. He was the son of John Parker, who moved from Virginia to Georgia when Daniel was but a small child. Here he was brought up in the depth of poverty, acquiring barely enough education to read. But God had endowed him with an intellect which neither poverty nor illiteracy could chain. He must be heard from. He gave his heart to God under the preaching of Elder Moses Sanders. He was baptized into the fellowship of Nail's Creek Baptist Church in Franklin County, Georgia, in January 1802. He was licensed to preach by this same church and soon began to exercise in public. In 1803 he moved to what is now Dickson County, Tennessee. He filed his membership with Tumbull Church and continued to exercise his gifts. He was set apart to the full work of the gospel ministry by this church, May 20, 1806, by presbytery, to wit; Elders Garner McConico, John Record, and John Turner. Very soon after his ordination he moved to Sumner County, Tennessee, and settled near Castalian Springs and united with Bledsoe's Creek (now New Hopewell) Church. He was called to the care of this church July 25, 1807, and began his pastoral work. He rose rapidly and soon began to be recognized among the leading ministers of his day, and few men could preach the "old, old story" with more unction than he. He was at one time, perhaps, the most popular man in Concord Association. All things went well until 1841, when a mission society was organized in the Association. He was non-committal at first on the matter; but after one year's observation he decided against it. As there were some of the leading ministers in this movement, the war now began in earnest. It was a battle royal. At the Association, A. D. 1816, when convened with East Station Camp Church, Elder Parker told them in plain terms if they did not cease their mission operations he would "burst the Association." They knew his popularity and his power to carry his threat into execution. So they withdrew their missionary correspondence.

At this time he was developing his "Two Seed" theory. About this time, also, he moved on the High Land Rim, in the northern part of Sumner County, near the Kentucky line. He now sowed his Two Seed doctrine down thick and fast, and prepared the way for the establishment of the Two Seed Baptists. His doctrine should not be confounded with that of our Calvinistic Baptists, nor should it be confounded with that of our Hardshell brethren. In brief, he taught that God had an external see, and the devil an external seed; and that God gave to Adam a seed which we call the body; that our bodies which we inherit from Adam are simply houses for God's and the devil's children to live in. When we die, if God's eternal seed is in us it returns to him; but if the devil's seed it returns to him, while the body returns to dust never to be resurrected.

On November 22, 1817, he resigned Bledsoe's Creek (now New Hopewell) and moved to the State of Illinois. His doctrine remained in the minds of the people and brought forth a harvest. It is but due to say that his objectionable teaching began only a short time before leaving Tennessee, and his ministry as a whole in this State was greatly blessed of God in establishing the Baptist cause. The church at Bledsoe's Creek was greatly prospered under his ministry. On moving to Illinois he published a tract, "Two Seeds in Broken Doses." This was followed by others along the same line, and at length by a monthly paper, The Church Advocate. He proved to be not only a powerful speaker, but a talented writer. His followers are still found scattered over several States, and a few very weak Associations are maintained. This is a monument no one should covet, and yet it attests the genius of the originator. Elder Parker was a man with a wonderful degree of magnetism and drew large crowds wherever he went. He paid no attention to conventionalities. Once, when preaching in the city of Nashville to a crowed house, in warm weather, he laid aside his coat and vest and neck-tie, as he was wont to do in rural districts, and yet the people hung on his words as though nothing unusual had occurred. At the close of his discourse, one very prominent and cultured man pronounced him the greatest preacher in the State.