Brown Parkinson Jr. was born on July 26, 1830, in Tennessee to Brown Parkinson. His father was a saddler who owned $2,000 of real estate by 1850. The family lived in Lincoln County, Tennessee, and by 1850, he was working as a farmer. He married Letitia Carolina Culpernia Bearden on May 3, 1855, and they had at least four children: Rufus, born around 1856; Thomas, born around 1857; Alfred, born around 1858; and Eliphas, born around 1861. They lived in Lincoln County, and by 1860, he owned $3,000 of real estate and $350 of personal property.
He enlisted in the Confederate army on November 10, 1862, and he mustered in as a private in Company E of the 8th Tennessee Infantry. Army officials detailed him to work at a hospital in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Union forces captured him in the Battle of Stones River in early January 1863 and imprisoned him at Fort McHenry. He was exchanged in February 1863, and he rejoined his regiment. He was discharged on June 4, 1863, and he died on July 16, 1863.