Betsy Ross (1752-1836)
Jan 1 American seamstress widely credited with making the first American flag, born in Gloucester City, Colony of New Jersey
- Jan 2 Philip Freneau, American poet of the American Revolution (The American Village), born in New York City (d. 1832)
- Jan 19 James Morris III, American army officer (d. 1820)
- Jan 23 Muzio Clementi, Italian composer, born in Rome, Papal States (d. 1832)
- Jan 30 Joseph Matthias Kracher, Austrian composer, born in Mattighofen, Austria (d. 1835)
- Jan 31 Gouverneur Morris, American lawmaker and diplomat (d. 1816)
- Feb 12 Josef Reicha, Czech cellist and composer, born in Chudenice (d. 1795)
- Feb 17 Friedrich Maximilian von Klinger, German playwright (Der Wirrwarr, oder Sturm und Drang) and novelist, born in the Free Imperial City of Frankfurt (d. 1831)
- Feb 20 Charles Broche, French organist and composer, born in Rouen, France (d. 1803)
- Feb 25 John Graves Simcoe, British Army general and 1st Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada (1791-96), born in Cotterstock, Oundle, England (d. 1806)
- Mar 19 José Maurício, Portuguese organist, and sacred music and modinha (love song) composer, born in Coimbra, Portugal (d. 1815)
- Mar 22 Johann Georg Joseph Spangler, Austrian composer, born in Vienna (d. 1802)
- Mar 29 Edward Jones, Welsh harpist and composer, born in Llandderfel, Wales (d. 1824)
- Apr 4 Niccolo Antonio Zingarelli, Italian composer (Andromeda), born in Naples, Kingdom of Naples (d. 1837)
- Apr 5 Sébastien Érard, French musical instruments maker, born in Strasbourg, France (d. 1831)
- Apr 6 Johann Friedrich Kranz, German composer, born in Stuttgart, Duchy of Württemberg, Holy Roman Empire (d. 1810)
- May 2 Ludwig August Lebrun, German composer, born in Mannheim, Electorate of the Palatinate, Holy Roman Empire (d. 1790)
- May 3 Braz Francisco de Lima, Portuguese composer, organist, mestre de capela, and pedagogue, born in Lisbon, Portugal (d. 1813)
- May 4 John Brooks, 11th Governor of Massachusetts (1816-23), born in Medford (d. 1825)
- May 11 Johann Friedrich Blumenbach, German anthropologist (d. 1840)
- May 14 Albrecht Thaer, German agronomist (d. 1828)
- May 14 Timothy Dwight, American theologian (d. 1817)
- May 24 Oliver Cromwell, African American soldier who served with distinction under George Washington in US War of Independence, born in Black Horse, Province of New Jersey (d. 1853)
- Jun 13 Fanny Burney, English novelist (Camille, Evelina), born in King’s Lynn, Norfolk, England (d. 1840)
- Jun 16 Meingosus Gaelle, German theologian and church composer, born in Buch, Electorate of Bavaria, Holy Roman Empire (d. 1816)
- Jul 7 Joseph Marie Jacquard, French weaver and merchant who invented the programmable loom (Jacquard loom), forerunner to today's computers, born in Lyon, France (d. 1834)
- Jul 27 Samuel Smith, American politician, Senator and Representative from Maryland, born in Carlisle, Pennsylvania (d. 1839)
- Aug 13 Maria Carolina of Austria, Queen of the Two Sicilies, born in Schönbrunn Palace, Vienna (d. 1814)
- Aug 27 Herman Muntinghe, Dutch theologian and writer (History of Mankind), born in Termunten, Groningen, Netherlands (d. 1824)
- Sep 8 Carl Stenborg, Swedish composer, born in Stockholm, Sweden (d. 1813)
- Sep 9 Johann Friedrich Christmann, German composer, born in Ludwigsburg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany (d. 1817)
- Sep 18 Adrien-Marie Legendre, French mathematician who worked on elliptic integrals, born in Paris (d. 1833)
- Sep 18 Johann Anton Sulzer, Swiss writer and composer, born in Rheinfelden, Aargau, Switzerland (d. 1828)
- Sep 21 Louise of Stolberg-Gedern, Countess of Albany, born in Mons, Austrian Netherlands (d. 1824)
- Sep 30 Justin Heinrich Knecht, German composer, born in Biberach an der Riss (d. 1817)
- Oct 2 Samuel Story, Dutch rear admiral (Battle at Kamperduin), born in Maasbommel, Dutch Republic (d. 1811)
- Oct 22 Ambrogio Minoja, Italian classical composer, born in Ospedaletto Lodigiano, Lodi, Italy (d. 1825)
- Nov 17 Nicolas Appert, French inventor of airtight food preservation (food canning, bouillon tablet), born in Châlons-en-Champagne, France (d. 1841)
- Nov 19 George Rogers Clark, American frontier military leader in Revolutionary War, born in Albemarle County, Virginia (d. 1818)
- Nov 20 Thomas Chatterton, English poet (Christabel), born in Bristol, England (d. 1770)
- Nov 25 Johann Friedrich Reichardt, German composer, born in Königsberg, East Prussia (d. 1814)
- Nov 29 Jemima Wilkinson [Publick Universal Friend], American preacher, founded Universal Friends sect, born in Cumberland, Rhode Island (d. 1819)
- Dec 3 Georg Friederich Fuchs, German composer, born in Mainz, Landgraviate of Hesse (now Germany) (d. 1821)
- Dec 6 Gabriel Duvall, Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1811-35), born in Marietta, Maryland (d. 1844)
- Dec 27 Johann Mederitsch, Austrian composer, baptized in Vienna, Austrian Empire (d. 1835)
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