DeWitt Parshall received his education at the Canandaigua Academy, where he was for several terms a classmate and roommate of Stephen A. Douglass. Choosing the law as a profession, he entered the office of the late Gen. William H. Adams, at Lyons, where he industriously prosecuted his studies and was admitted to the bar in 1838, having, since leaving his father's house, entirely supported himself by his own exertion—teaching, surveying, copying law papers in the County Clerk's Office, etc He opened his first law office at Lyons, but in 1839, having formed a co-partnership with the late Judge Theron R. Strong, he moved to Palmyra, but feeling that there was a better field for his activities at the County seat, the partnership was dissolved at his own request and he returned to Lyons, where he continued to reside for the remainder of his life. In addition to his law practice he became extensively engaged in real estate transactions and continued until his death the most extensive dealer in and owner of real estate in the county. The Village of Lyons owes much of its prosperity to his enterprise and public spirit. In 1852, he established the Palmyra Bank, of Lyons, the name of which was changed to the Lyons Bank two years later and again in 1865, it was converted into the Lyons National Bank, under which name it has ever since enjoyed an unexampled prosperity. He served as Supervisor of his town several terms, and later was President of the Village of Lyons. In 1868, he was elected to the Legislature of New York State, where he served one term. A man of sterling worth, upright and honorable in every walk of life, devoted to his family and friends, he won the esteem of all who knew him.