Sabin was born November 29, 1850 in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin to Samuel H. and Adelia Bordine Sabin. When she was an infant, her family moved to California as part of the gold rush, and returned to Wisconsin in 1854. As the oldest of 11 children, Sabin was often responsible for her siblings. She, Ella Wheeler Wilcox, and Clara Bewick Colby were close childhood friends.