Background
She was born on July 11, 1839 in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States, the eldest daughter of Edwin David Sanborn and Mary Ann (Webster) Sanborn and the descendant of John Samborne, an English emigrant who settled in Hampton, N. H. , about 1640.
She was usually called Kate and most of her writing appeared under that name. Her mother was the daughter of Ezekiel Webster, the gifted brother of Daniel Webster, and of this relationship she was always proudly conscious. Her father, professor of Latin, gave more than forty years of service to Dartmouth College, interrupted by four years of teaching at Washington University in St. Louis.
The family and community life in which she grew up was intellectually invigorating and socially stimulating. Books and lectures abounded, distinguished writers and scholars were frequent guests, and there was an unfailing supply of young men to entertain a lively girl.