He studied at Harvard Law School in 1850 and 1851,[2] was admitted to the Ohio bar, and settled in Dayton.

[3] In 1855, Parrott was appointed reporter of decisions for the first session of the Kansas Territory's Supreme Court.

[1] In October 1855, Parrott was elected to serve as a delegate to the territory's 1856 constitutional convention in Topeka.

[1] Parrott's term ended when Kansas was admitted to the Union, and he was an unsuccessful candidate for election to one Kansas' two seats in the United States Senate; he lost a close race to Lane and Samuel C. Pomeroy.

Parrott returned to Dayton to live with his brother when his health began to fail in the late 1870s.