At age 18 he worked on building a railroad in the vicinity of Richmond, having learned the carpenter's trade from his father.

Parker had joined the church in England, with Willard Richards, Samuel's uncle, having been one of the missionaries involved in teaching her about Mormonism.

Upon reaching Utah, Richards worked as a farmer and served as a member of both the Salt Lake City Council and the State of Deseret Constitutional Convention.

For much of this time he served as president of the British Mission (succeeding his brother, Franklin D. Richards) and editor of the Millennial Star.

In 1857, he was sent on a short mission to England to call missionaries home to protect their families from Johnston's Army.

He also conducted espionage on Johnson's Army and delivered communications from Brigham Young to Thomas L. Kane to pass on to James Buchanan as part of this journey.

Only three of her six children outlived her, and they were raised by their cousin and stepmother, Mary Ann Parker Richards.

He also did decorative work on the interior of the Salt Lake Temple; however, in Utah he was generally more involved in farming and milling than in carpentry.