James Alexander Bonner was born on March 7, 1864 in Petersburg, Virginia. In his youth, Bonner moved to Goldsboro where he attended public schools. He next entered Lincoln University, where he remained eight years, completing both a bachelor's (1885) and the theological program (1888). He obtained a doctor of divinity from Lincoln and Biddle. Bonner first embarked on his career as a minister at Troy, South Carolina, where he preached and led a school from 1888 to 1890. He next went to Lexington, North Carolina, overseeing the building of a new church house. In 1895, he relocated to Wilmington, North Carolina, where he remained until his death on January 7, 1935.