Sophie (also Sophia) Parsons was born in London England in 1829, and her mother was Phillis Brooks and her father was Richard Parsons.  She was the youngest of four children.  Her father, a Boatman or a Waterman, was charged with taking some coal and convicted at the Old Bailey on 16 July 1829.  He was sentenced to 7 years penal servitude for simple larceny in 1827 and then transported in 1829 on the convict ship, the 'Prince Regent' to Van Dieman's Land.  It is not clear whether Sophia knew her father Richard before he was taken into gaol.  Mother Phillis was without her husband.  Families of some convicts were lucky enough to receive, along with other Mothers and children, through philanthropy, the opportinity to join their transported loved one.  The family of four boarded the ship, William, in Southhampton, London and journeyed to Hobert Town, VanDieman's Land, New South Wales, as Tasmania was then known. Other mothers and children also made the voyage with the  Parson family.  They arrived in port at Hobart Town on 23 October, 1833.

Phillis died a little over fiive months after their arrival (2 April 1834).  Sophia was without her mother and was sent to the Queens Orphanage in New Town.  She was admitted to the orphanage in 1834 as a little child of five.  She was discharged roughly two years later.