Philena Barton (maiden name: Wilson) was born around 1808 in Ohio. She married William Barton on August 31, 1832, and they had at least four children: Eliza, born around 1833; John, born around 1839; Sophronia, born around 1841; and Walter, born around 1844. They lived in Portage, Ohio, and her husband worked as a distiller. They moved to Wadsworth, Ohio, in the 1850s, and by 1860, they owned $200 of personal property. They moved to Norton, Ohio, in the 1860s, and she died sometime in the 1870s.