David Honeyman was born on May 29, 1817, in Fife, Scotland.

He was a Presbyterian minister, geologist, teacher, and curator. He studied Oriental languages and natural sciences at the University of St. Andrews and then theology in Glasgow and Edinburgh. He was licensed to preach in 1841 and in 1848, he accepted a position as a professor of Hebrew at the Free Church College in Halifax, N.S. In 1850, he left the Free Church and joined the Presbyterian Church of Nova Scotia. In 1858, he left the active ministry to become involved in geological studies, but he continued to preach and assist in church work until his death. In 1861, he accepted a commission to present an exhibit of Nova Scotia minerals at the London International Exhibition (1862). He also represented Nova Scotia at the Dublin International Exhibition (1865), at the Universal Exposition in Paris (1867), and at the Philadelphia Centennial International Exhibition (1876). In 1882, he represented Canada at the International Fisheries Exhibition in London. His geological collections won him medals at all these international exhibitions. In 1868, he helped establish the Provincial Museum in Halifax (now the Nova Scotia Museum) and became its curator (1868-1889). He was elected to the Société géologique de France, the Society of Arts and Letters, the Horticultural Society, and the Geologists’ Association of London. He also became a fellow of the Geological Society of London and an original member of the Geological Society of America.

In 1847, he married Mary Donaldson (1824–1903). He died on October 17, 1889, in Halifax, Nova Scotia.