James Henderson Kyle was born at his family's farm in Cedarville, Ohio.

[1] As a young man James Kyle had difficulty choosing his career, but gained much education and supported himself by farming and teaching.

He studied civil engineering at the University of Illinois and later graduated from Oberlin College in 1878.

He considered a career in law but eventually decided to become a Congregational minister and graduated from Western Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania in 1881.

He then moved to Salt Lake City, Utah in 1882 to become pastor of a church and director of a seminary there.

Kyle was one of the main sponsors of a bill to create the holiday Labor Day.