James Anderson was born on July 5, 1834, in Kenmore, Perthshire, Scotland.

He was a Presbyterian minister. He was educated at the University of St. Andrews and ordained in 1865 by the Presbytery of Nairn. In 1866, he was inducted as minister at Wallace and Pugwash, Nova Scotia. In 1873, Anderson was called from there to St. James Church, Newcastle, New Brunswick, which had about 180 families in the congregation and over 200 communicants. In the summer of 1875, he spent three months in Scotland in company with his wife, who was ill and thought to be dying. He resumed his ministry in the fall and carried on until October 1879. He then resigned and returned to his homeland. He was the minister of Alvie parish church in Inverness-shire from 1880 until his retirement a few years before his death.

In 1865, he married Barbara Hay Grant (1833–1883), and in 1888, he remarried Jessie Munro (1860-1952). He died on July 14, 1913, in Alvie, Inverness-shire, Scotland.