Daniel Briscoe Sr. was born on June 7, 1843 to Philip Jackson and Martha Allen Briscoe in Greene County, Tennessee. He graduated from the University of Mississippi 1861 and went on to serve with the Confederate Army during the Civil War. After the war ended, he joined his father-in-law, Joseph H. Earnest, in the mercantile business in Morristown, Tennessee. He came to Knoxville in 1882 and founded George and Briscoes with his brother, Philip Jackson Briscoe, and Solomon H. George. In 1884, the company was reorganized with R. R. Swepson as Briscoes, Swepson, and Company. The firm was reorganized again in 1889 as Daniel Briscoe, Brother and Company and continued under this name until Daniel Briscoe's retirement in 1909. In its various incarnations, the firm engaged in the dry goods jobbing business and was very profitable, earning its various owners places among Knoxville's merchant princes. Daniel Briscoe also maintained interests in the Island Home Insurance Companies and in the East Tennessee National Bank. He died on February 7, 1918 in Knoxville, Tennessee, and is buried in Old Gray Cemetery.

Daniel Briscoe Sr. married twice, once to Catherine C. Earnest of Greene County in 1864 and once to Lucy G. White of Spring Hill, Tennessee, in 1889.