Born near St. Leonard, Maryland, Parran attended the public schools and Charlotte Hall Military Academy.

He was a member of the Maryland House of Delegates from 1884 to 1888, and served as chief deputy collector for the Bureau of Internal Revenue for the Baltimore district from 1889 to 1893.

Parran served as a member of the Maryland Road Commission from 1913 to 1916 and as Immigration Commissioner in 1917 and 1918.

He resumed farming interests, and served as a member of the board of directors of the County Trust Company in Prince Frederick, Maryland.

[1] He died in St. Leonard, and is interred in Christ Church Cemetery of Port Republic, Maryland.