Barton families were among the first to settle the Glassy Mountain area, once land grants to former Revolutionary War soldiers began in 1784.
Paneuma Barton’s great, great grandparents, David and Nancy Barrett Barton, settled on a tract of land in the southwestern section of  Glassy Mountain township (on present-day Southerlin Road) in 1785, following his release from Revolutionary War service.
Her great grandparents were Thomas and Nancy Easley Barton and grandparents were Millington Easley and Sallie Goodlett Barton.
Paneuma was the third child and oldest daughter of James Henry and Josephine Coleman Barton. She was born on August 16, 1884, 99 years after David Barton first arrived in the area.
She was an extremely intelligent child, everyone said, and it was no surprise when she enrolled in the North Greenville High School, forerunner of North Greenville University, as one of very few female students in that day.
She graduated in 1903, then entered Greenville Woman’s College, which was later combined with Furman University, and graduated with honors in 1908.
After graduation, she taught school for two years at Spartan High School in Landrum, a school owned by the Spartanburg Baptist Association, which received help financially from the Baptist Home Mission Board in Atlanta. She also taught for two years in public schools in the area.