A native Texan and the grandson of a pioneer Nueces County sheriff, Milas Roberson "Burney" Parker grew up in Lee and Washington counties. He served as Washington County Road Superintendent for fourteen years before he was elected county treasurer in 1908. He resigned that office in 1914 to run for sheriff, a position he held during the difficult period of World War I and Prohibition. In 1926 Parker and his family moved to Houston, where he died in 1932.