Jack Parker was born around 1825 in North Carolina. Parker was a farmer who resided in Montgomery County, North Carolina, and was married to a woman named Sarah Parker. He was charged with larceny, specifically the theft of a horse, on March 10, 1873, and sentenced to five years in the North Carolina State Penitentiary. Parker was recorded in the North Carolina State Penitentiary's Descriptive Register for the Years 1869-1884 as prisoner number 637. The descriptive register notes his "color" as Black. Parker was forty-eight years old when he was arrested. Parker was noted as possessing no formal education, meaning he could not read or write at that time. During his incarceration, Parker was leased to the Western North Carolina Railroad Company to work on railroad construction. He was discharged on November 26, 1877.