A war widow, she was active in glorifying the Confederacy through her role as a member of the Ladies' Memorial Association, raising money to build Confederate monuments in North Carolina.

Parsley became a prominent figure within the United Daughters of the Confederacy, establishing the Cape Fear Chapter in 1894 and the North Carolina Division in 1897.

[1] She is the grandaunt of the Episcopalian bishop Henry N. Parsley Jr. During the American Civil War, her husband was wounded three times and sent home to recover.

[1][3] Her inquiry was answered by Anna Davenport Raines, the vice president of the national organization, who encouraged Parsley to apply for a charter with the authority to form individual chapters.

[3] Parsley took this matter in writing before the National Convention on March 30, 1894, in Nashville, addressing her concerns to Raines and the organization's president, Caroline Meriwether Goodlett, and was successful in having the clause on eligibility amended.

[3] In her role as president, she advised women who wanted to establish new chapters and travelled around North Carolina promoting the Lost Cause narrative.