After working at a number of trades, David attended Huron College in London, Ontario, Canada, from which he graduated in 1985. From then until 1901 David did mission work in the Peace Rover region and elsewhere. He was ordained at Winnipeg in 1903 and served as rector of Christ Church Anglican at Austin, Manitoba for a time. His work in North Battleford, Saskatchewan is told in the history of St. Paul’s Anglican Church written in 1938.