Rev Joseph Milton David had his early education at Pasumalai High School, Madurai, India and was trained as a teacher. At the age of 19 he went to Palembang, Sumatra and taught in the Methodist English School for four years, before going to Medan as headmaster of the Methodist English School for another five years. In the meantime, he passed a four-year course to become a local deacon in the Church.

In 1928, he moved to Malaya and became supervisor of the Methodist English School, Ipoh. He was ordained as a minister at the Malaya Annual Conference in Singapore in 1930 and appointed pastor of the Tamil Methodist Church Teluk Anson (now Teluk Intan) and, later, the Tamil Methodist Church Malacca. When World War II broke out in 1941, he was serving in Ipoh and was appointed District Superintendent of Perak.

After the war he served as pastor of the Tamil Methodist Church Klang (1947-1948), Penang (1949-1950), and Seremban ( 1951-1958). In Seremban, he was also the principal of the Methodist Afternoon School.

He and his wife Elizabeth whom he married in 1923 had two sons, Jasper and Ernest, and four daughters – Jasmine, Jane, Jessie and Lydia. He retired in 1958 and continued to live in Seremban. He passed away in October 1976.