Born in West Virginia, James Watson Burson came to Denison from Ohio with his parents in a covered wagon before the railroad reached the new town.

His father, Stephen Calendar Burson (1826–1904), had a hauling business in Denison that ultimately made him wealthy. He served as Denison's street commissioner and contracted with the city for street work.

James married Maud Bacon in Denison on December 15, 1874. The Denison City Directory for 1876-77 showed two men named Bacon working as printers at Burson's newspaper, the Cresset.

Burson and John C. "Mont" Montgomery founded the Cresset in April 1875. Only two months later, James H. Day replaced Montgomery. On August 31, 1877, Burson & Day changed the paper's name to Denison Daily Herald. Apparently the Denison Daily Herald ceased publication around 1883.

By mid-1884, Burson had moved to Galveston, where he sold Remington Typewriters. The next year, his J. W. Burson & Company founded the Galveston Tribune and for a decade engaged in book publishing. In 1896, he was selling insurance. Around the turn of the century, he engaged in mining in the Black Rock district in the Arizona Territory, near Constellation, Yavapai County. He represented that area in the 22nd Territorial Legislature. In 1904, James retired to a farm near Arlington, Texas. In December that year, he committed suicide in a Dallas hotel.