He was the cousin, on his mother's side, of Thomas Parker (1595-1677), who had been left to the education of William Noyes when his father Robert Parker fled into exile in the Netherlands in 1607.[4] Educated under the guidance of his father, and receiving much instruction from Parker, he entered Brasenose College, Oxford in 1627, but did not proceed to a degree.[5] After studying in Dublin, Oxford and Leyden, Parker returned to teach at Newbury in Berkshire, where he was assistant preacher to William Twisse: Parker summoned James to assist him, and under their guidance James found his vocation.[6] In 1633 James married Sarah, eldest daughter of Joseph Brown of Southampton and his wife Sarah Hibbert,[7] and on March 1634 Parker and Noyes, together with his brother Nicholas Noyes and nephew John Woodbridge,[8] and their families, emigrated to New England. They sailed aboard the Mary and John of London, accompanied by the Hercules: the ship was detained in the River Thames where all passengers signed the Oath of Allegiance to the King and the Church before they were allowed to sail from London.[9]