James John Stevenson was the son of the Andrew Stevenson of Ballylaw, Ireland, and Ann Mary (Wilson) Stevenson, a native of Bedford, Pennsylvania. The elder Stevenson emigrated to America in 1831, and James Stevenson was born in 1841.

James Stevenson spent the early years of his life in New York City where he was educated in urban private schools. In 1860 he enrolled in New York University (NYU), then the University of the City of New York. While at the University, he was awarded the Sophomore Greek Prize and was elected Secretary and Treasurer of the Philomathean Society; he was elected to Delta Phi and Phi Beta Kappa Societies and was honored as commencement orator. Following graduation in 1863, he moved to upstate New York and taught mathematics and natural science for a year at the Mexico Academy.

In 1864, he took charge of a school for boys in Astoria, New York, where he also edited the American Education Monthly, a journal of science, history, biology, education, geology, and meteorology. Stevenson also published a number of articles, both in the journal and elsewhere. In 1866 he edited or composed monographs, including: "Anthropoid Apes," "Potato," "Vegetable Poisons," "Hendrick Hudson," "Aerostation," "Atlantic Cable," and "Atmospheric Phenomena." From 1864 to 1867 Stevenson wrote or edited 19 articles for the American Education Monthly.

In 1865 NYU granted Stevenson an honorary doctorate degree in divinity. He continued his graduate studies at NYU and was awarded an M.A. in geology in 1866 and a Ph.D in 1867.

Stevenson resigned his post as editor after completing his studies to be come a geologist in the western mining regions. However, his time in the west proved to be an economic failure, made worse by his contraction of tuberculosis.

He then secured an appointment as professor of chemistry and natural sciences at West Virginia University in the eastern mining areas in 1869. While there, he assisted the prominent American geologist Dr. John Strong Newberry in a geologic survey of Ohio from 1871 to 1872. From 1872 to 1882 he combined duties as professor of geology at NYU with professional fieldwork. In 1873 he was appointed geologist on the Colonel George Montague Wheeler Survey west of the 100-degree meridian. He was appointed assistant geologist to Professor Peter Lesley in 1875 for the geologic survey of Pennsylvania in Greene and Washington Counties. In 1876-1877 he oversaw the project in Fayette and Westmoreland Counties, Pennsylvania. In 1878 he rejoined the Wheeler survey in Colorado. From 1879 to 1881, Stevenson participated in the Virginia and New Mexico surveys. His field career ended in 1881 after taking part in the final stages of the Pennsylvania surveys.

After completing his fieldwork, he returned to full time teaching at NYU, where he stayed until 1909. From 1882 to 1889 he was professor of chemistry and physics, followed by an appointment as professor of geology and biology from 1889 to 1894, and finally as professor of geology from 1894 to 1909. In 1909 Stevenson was named professor emeritus. While at the University, Dr. Stevenson received a Doctor of Letters degree from Princeton in 1893 and a Doctor of Letters Degree from Washington and Jefferson University in 1902.

In addition to his affiliations with learned academies, Stevenson held positions in numerous U.S. and international natural history societies, including: vice president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science during 1891-1892; president of the New York Academy of Science, 1896-1898; and for many years, he was first secretary of the Geologic Society of America. Stevenson also retained a membership in the American Philosophical Society. In 1903 he attended the International Geologic Conference, acting as vice president of the United States delegation.

Stevenson was a prolific author of scientific and non-scientific articles. He wrote or edited more than 100 scientific papers and many articles on college problems, morality, and the role of science in education and history. Many of his non-scholarly works were published in School and Society Magazine and Popular Science Monthly. Some of the titles to his credit are: "Is this a Degenerate Age?", "University Control," "College Course," "Status of the American College Professor," and "Our Society."

As a working geologist, he gave particular attention to stratigraphic problems and those relating to coal. Among his better-known works were the supplements and reports of the Wheeler Surveys Vol. 3 1875, and the supplemental volume of 1881. Stevenson wrote extensively in the Second Geologic Survey of Pennsylvania 1875, 1876, 1877, 1878 and 1882. Among his best known articles were: "Lower Carboniferous of the Appalachian Basin" and "Carboniferous of the Appalachian Basin," published in the Bulletin of the Geological Society of America and the articles "Formation of Coal Beds" and "Interelation of Fossil Fuels," published in the Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society. Among the other publications and journals to which he submitted monographs were: Christian Statesman, Proceedings of the West Virginia Historical Society, Annals of Lyceum of Natural History, Virginias, American Science, Transcripts of the New York Academy of Science, University Quarterly, Proceedings of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Geologist, Scottish Geography Magazine and American Journal of Geology and Science. A partial list of Stevenson's articles may be found at the University Archives.

After retirement in 1909, Stevenson continued to write, until failing eyesight forced him to cut back in 1922.

Stevenson was historian for NYU's class of 1863. In this capacity and through his retirement, he compiled correspondence and reports concerning the activities of the class. In 1924 after falling ill with pneumonia, Stevenson passed away at New Canaan, Connecticut.

John Stevenson married twice. On April 13, 1865, he married Mary A. McGowan. He had three children by this marriage, Anna (Warner), Andrew William, and Isabella (Sommerville). After becoming a widower in 1871, Stevenson married Mary C. Ewing in 1879. They had two children, Margaretta (Denny) and Archibald. In 1904 Archibald graduated from New York University.