On January 1, 1886, Sanborn began office work in Omaha, Nebraska, for the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad under the auditor of freight and passenger account.

He resigned January 1, 1898, and engaged in the real estate business in Chicago, entering the office of Clarance A.

[3] As an attorney involved in real estate,[4] Clarence Burley's goal was to help re-build Chicago following the Great Fire, having watched his family-home burn.

[6] Although Sanborn remained engaged in the business of real estate for the remainder of his life[7] as an agent with The Kenilworth Company,[8] he received from his father an interest in genealogy.

The Recording Secretary, Dr. Nathan Sanborn, first published his research in 1856 in the New England Historic Genealogical Register.

"[9] Sanborn's continued research and refinement of the Sanborn genealogical record took him to England and the European continent in 1895 and again in 1913, resulting in a source which remains foremost in the study of this family's history into the early twentieth century, and one of the best family genealogies in existence.