Parrish Ray was born around 1858 in North Carolina. Ray worked as a laborer and resided in Durham (then Orange County) and Forsyth County, North Carolina. Ray was charged with larceny on May 13, 1878, and sentenced to one year in the North Carolina State Penitentiary. Ray was recorded in the North Carolina State Penitentiary's Descriptive Register for the Years 1869-1884 as prisoner number 2712. Ray 's race was described as "colored” and “mulatto.” Ray was nineteen years old when he was arrested. Ray was noted as possessing no formal education, meaning he could not read or write at that time. During his incarceration, Ray was leased to the Western North Carolina Railroad Company to work on railroad construction. He was discharged from the railroad on April 18, 1879. Ray was killed by police on February 7, 1887, in Durham, North Carolina.