Dan Jones was born on 4th August 1810 in Halkyn, Flintshire, the son of Thomas Jones and Ruth Roberts and the sixth of eight children. By the age of sixteen he had become a sailor. On 3rd  January 1837 he married his childhood sweetheart Jane Melling, a fellow villager. Three years later the young couple made the exciting decision to emigrate to America where Dan became a captain along the Mississippi River on a steamship called the Ripple. Following the sinking of The Ripple in 1842, after hitting a rock, he became captain and joint owner with Levi Moffitt of the Maid of Iowa.

It was during his work aboard the steamship on the Mississippi that he first came into contact with the Latter-day Saints who travelled along along the river from New Orleans to  Illinois.

Captain Dan, as he was known, very quickly became interested in the religious movement and was keen to find out more. He subsequently engrossed himself in the teachings of Joseph Smith and soon became his good friend. In January 1843 he was baptised and Joseph Smith bought shares in the ship which continued to be used to transport passengers and goods to Nauvoo, including the materials to build the Nauvoo Temple. On several occasions Joseph Smith preached from the deck of the ship.

The following year Joseph and his brother Hyrum were arrested and imprisoned in Carthage Jail along with Willard Richards and John Taylor. Dan Jones accompanied them to offer support.