David Miller, son of Philip Jacob Miller and Magdalena Rochette, was born on December 1, 1757, in an area east of Hanover, York County, Pennsylvania, and reared on his father's farm located to the northwest of Hagerstown and southwest of Maugansville. It is believed that David must have been married twice. It is thought that he married his first wife in Washington County about 1778 and had two children with her. He then moved north and west over the Allegheny Mountains into Bedford County, Pennsylvania, settling in the area of Morrison's Cove and Woodbury in the mid-1780's. According to Rev. Merle C. Rummel in ‘Brethern Life:" These families were settled on the far frontier. This was Indian Country and no other white settlers were safe. The Dunkers built homesteads here years before other settlers. The friendly relationship developed by these Brethren with the Indians of the Pennsylvania frontier in Morrison's Cove, Brothers Valley and on the Juniata River carried to this settlement on Obannon Creek."

After the death of his first wife, David married sixteen-year old Magdalena Abigail Maugans, daughter of Conrad and Rebecca Maugans, about 1783 in Pennsylvania. She was born on August 17, 1767, in Wolfsville, Frederick County, Maryland. In 1785 her family had moved to Morrison's Cove, Woodberry Township, Bedford County, Pennsylvania. Between 1784 and 1801, they had eight children: Michael, Catherine, Esther, Elizabeth, Jacob, Nancy, Susannah, and Lydia.

David and his family probably left Morrison's Cove in 1795 or 1796, moving by raft down the Ohio River to join his father in Campbell County, Kentucky. After his father's death in 1799, David moved north into western Ohio, settling in Randolph, Montgomery County, Ohio (near present-day Englewood) by 1800. The move may have been spurred by their opposition to slavery. In 1801, he bought land in Clermont County, Ohio. By 1802, he was a charter member of the Stonelick congregation of the German Baptist Faith in Clermont County, Ohio.

Magdalena died on March 24, 1833 in Randolph, Montgomery County, Ohio, and David died on August 18, 1845, in Montgomery County, Ohio. He is buried on the Old David Miller homestead located on present-day Haber Road, Randolph Township, Montgomery County, Ohio, along with his son Michael and several descendants who make up a family cemetery of twenty graves.