James Hall was born in Hingham, Massachusetts on September 12, 1811, to James Hall Sr. and Susanna Dourdain where he was the oldest of five children.  After completing his high school education, Hall enrolled at Rensselaer School in 1930 and received his undergraduate degree in 1832.  Hall continued his education at Rensselaer School and received his Master’s of Arts.  Hall’s first scientific work was “Catalogue of Plants Growing Without Cultivation in the Vicinity of Troy, N.Y.”.  After receiving his Master’s, Hall was appointed Assistant to the Junior Professor of Chemistry at Rensselaer.  Then he became the Professor of Chemistry at Rensselaer from 1835-1841.  However, during this time the state of New York would start a geologic survey and Hall would get the chance to enter into his lifelong profession.
                The Geologic Survey in New York began in 1836.  The state was broken into four districts, each with its own chief.  The chiefs at the beginning were William W. Mather, Ebenezer Emmons, Lardner Vanuxem, and Timothy A. Conrad.  Hall was appointed to be Emmons’ assistant.  However, after just one year of the survey, Hall was appointed as Chief of the fourth district to replace Conrad.  It was with the New York Geologic Survey that Hall became a distinguished geologist. 
                After the New York Survey was complete, Hall went west to extend the New York geologic classification system beyond state boundaries.  He visited Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Kentucky, Wisconsin, Missouri, and Iowa.  He did this before the survey reports were published so he could incorporate this work.  After the survey reports Hall became the paleontologist at the State Museum in New York to work on the fossils collected during the surveys.  After this, Hall went to work in Canada.  
                In 1854, James W. Grimes was elected governor of Iowa and he immediately called for a geologic expedition of the state.  This request was granted and in 1855 Grimes asked Hall to become the state geologist of Iowa.  Hall, who was working in Canada at the time, accepted.  As State Geologist, Hall also became the first Professor of Geology and Natural History at the State University of Iowa, though no one can remember him ever meeting with a class.  Hall appointed Amos H. Worthen as his first assistant for the Iowa Geologic Survey.  Under Hall, only the eastern part of Iowa was surveyed, however Hall was fine with this since he had been able to completely describe the paleontology of the state.  He used the fossils of Amos Worthen, Charles White, and G.M. Kellog for use in the Iowa report.  Although Hall’s work in Iowa had been of great scientific value, and set a precedent for all future natural history studies in Iowa, it was not what the public had been looking for, and Hall was replaced by Charles White, though he did not start until 1866.
                While working for the Iowa survey, Hall had accepted the position of State Geologist of Wisconsin.  This lasted until 1860.  In 1871 Hall was appointed director of the Museum of Natural History in Albany, New York.  Hall passed away on August 7, 1898.