Sanders was born on September 9, 1890, in a four-room house located 3 miles (5 km) east of Henryville, Indiana.[1] He was the oldest of three children born to Wilbur David and Margaret Ann (née Dunlevy) Sanders.[1] The family attended the Advent Christian Church.[2] The family were of mostly Irish and English ancestry.[citation needed]
His father was a mild and affectionate man who worked his 80-acre farm, until he broke his leg after a fall. He then worked as a butcher in Henryville for two years. Sanders' mother was a devout Christian and strict parent, continuously warning her children of "the evils of alcohol, tobacco, gambling, and whistling on Sundays."[3]
One summer afternoon in 1895, his father came home with a fever and died later that day. Sanders' mother obtained work in a tomato cannery, and the young Harland was required to look after and cook for his siblings.[1] By the age of seven, he was reportedly skilled with bread and vegetables, and improving with meat; the children foraged for food while their mother was away for days at a time for work.[4] When he was 10, Harland began to work as a farmhand for local farmers Charlie Norris and Henry Monk.
In 1902, Sanders' mother remarried to William Broaddus,[5] and the family moved to Greenwood, Indiana.[6] Sanders had a tumultuous relationship with his stepfather. In 1903, he dropped out of seventh grade (later stating that "algebra's what drove me off"), and went to live and work on a nearby farm.[6] At age 13, he left home by himself.[3] He then took a job painting horse carriages in Indianapolis. When he was 14, he moved to southern Indiana to work as a farmhand for Sam Wilson for two years.[6]