He was born at Ten Mile Creek (now called Prosperity). His father was involved in the founding of Ohio University in Athens, Ohio and Daniel graduated from there in 1824, after which he taught there for 3 years and saved his earnings to pay his tuition at the Union Theological Seminary in Virginia, from which he graduated in June 1831. He was officially ordained by the Presbyterian Church in November 1832 at Rocky River, North Carolina, but had been serving there since his graduation. He met his future wife through a friend and at age 33 he married Lucy Virginia Allen in 20 November 1834 in Hartford, CT.; she was the daughter of Orlando Allen & Mary Smith and was born in 1810 in Columbia County, New York. They had 11 children and all lived well into adulthood. Two were spinsters, but the other 9 married. Daniel was a not only a minister, but also a missionary. He and Lucy were members of the first missionary band of six couples sent by the American Board of the Congregational Church to South Africa. They arrived in February 1835 by ship at the southern tip of South Africa. They then traveled northeast in ox-carts 500 miles to Griqua Town. The next year they traveled another 500 miles to Moslikatse. In January 1837, they decided to go another 1300 miles to Port Natal in Western Transvaal; Port Natal later became part of the city of Durban and is on the coast of the Indian Ocean. Disputes led to the Zulu armies sweeping through this area, so in May 1838, they found refuge in Port Elizabeth, back on the southern tip of South Africa. But by the end of the year, they were able to return to Port Natal, where they worked among the Dutch people and opened a school for the Boers. At that time, the family lived in Pietermaritzburg, some distance north of Port Natal, while Daniel traveled over the settled parts of Natal and the Transvaal. In 1846, he was appointed by the Colonial government as one of 5 commissioners to allot land to the natives and to encourage them in industry. In early 1847, he selected land in Inanda, a township north of Durban, for a school and Daniel & Lucy returned to mission work among a Zulu tribe. They moved to Inanda Ridge, taking 15 other Christian families with them and by October 1857, they had formed the Inanda Church and Mission Station and began building at that site. Daniel received an honorary Doctor of Divinity from Ohio University in 1860. The Lindley family were anti-slavery and the Civil War caused them anguish and they broke off relationships with southern friends, whom he called "poor deluded people". He also said "they are their own worst enemies and their madness is likely to work more mischief to themselves than to others." These quotes from the biography about Daniel; he is also listed in Who's Was Who in America. Daniel & Lucy returned to Inanda in January 1863 to rebuild their home that had been destroyed by a fire. And they founded the Inanda Seminary in 1869 to educate women and as a refuge for Zulu girl unwilling to accept arranged marriages. In 2004, the school taught all subjects and was under the auspices of the United Church Board for World Ministries in NY and the United Congregational Church of Southern Africa. In 2023, it is listed as an independent girls secondary school and one of the oldest schools in South Africa. In July 1873, Daniel and Lucy returned to the U.S. and lived in various places in NY City. Lucy died in 1877 at age 67 at the home of her daughter, Clara, in NY City from complications of congestion of the brain caused by an enlarged heart. She was buried in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Sleepy Hollow, Westchester County, just north of NY City. Daniel died 3 years later at age 79 at the home of his daughter, Sarah, in Morristown, NJ. He suffered from paralysis, caused by a stroke. He was buried next to his wife at Sleepy Hollow Cemetery.
Their story is told in the book, "The Life and Times of Daniel Lindley 1801-80" by Edwin W. Smith.

The picture of Daniel with his family includes from the left: Sarah Adams, James Bryant, Mary Elizabeth, Lucy Virginia, Rev. Daniel Lindley, Clara Louise (child in arms of her father), Newton Adams (standing), Mrs. Lucy Allen Lindley, Martha Jane, Charles Lutellus (boy seated), Charlotte Hannah, John and Daniel Allen. It was photographed in Rochester, New York about 1861.