Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift.

Famous People Born in 1809

  • Jan 1 John Pieter Heije, Dutch physician, writer and poet (Silver Fleet) (d. 1876)
  • Jan 2 Friedrich Wilhelm Jahns, German composer, voice teacher and musicologist, born in Berlin, Kingdom of Prussia (d. 1888)

Louis Braille (1809-1852)

Jan 4 French educator and inventor of a system of reading and writing for the blind, born in Coupvray, France

  • Jan 15 Cornelia Connelly, American foundress (Society of the Holy Child Jesus), born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (d. 1879)
  • Jan 15 Pierre Joseph Proudhon, French politician and philosopher ("father of anarchism"), born in Besançon, France (d. 1865)
  • Jan 18 Richard C. Gatlin, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), born in Kinston, North Carolina (d. 1896)

Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849)

Jan 19 American writer, poet and critic (The Pit and the Pendulum) considered the inventor of the detective fiction genre (Murders in the Rue Morgue), born in Boston, Massachusetts

  • Jan 20 Sebastian de Iradier, Spanish-Basque composer (La Paloma), born in Lanciego, Álava, Spain (d. 1865)
  • Jan 23 Veer Surendra Sai, Indian freedom fighter & tribal leader, born in Sambalpur district, India (d. 1884)

Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)

Feb 3 German composer and pianist (Italian Symphony; Songs Without Words), born in the Free Imperial City of Hamburg

  • Feb 7 Frederik Paludan-Muller, Danish Romantic poet (Danserinden), born in Kerteminde, Denmark (d. 1876)

Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865)

Feb 12 16th US President (Republican: 1861-65), born in Hardin County, Kentucky

Charles Darwin (1809-1882)

Feb 12 English naturalist (Origin of the Species) who conceived the theory of evolution by natural selection, born in Shrewsbury, Shropshire

  • Feb 15 André Dumont, Belgian geologist, born in Liège, Belgium (d. 1857)

Cyrus McCormick (1809-1884)

Feb 15 American inventor and businessman (mechanical reaper), born in Shenandoah Valley, Virginia

  • Feb 20 Albertus Jacobus Duymaer van Twist, Dutch Governor-General of Dutch East Indies (1851-56), born in Deventer, Netherlands (d. 1887)
  • Feb 20 Henry Walton Wessells, American Brigadier General (Union Army), born in Lietchfield, Connecticut (d. 1889)
  • Feb 24 Edwin Freiherr von Manteuffel, Prussian Generalfeldmarschall noted for his victories in the Franco-Prussian War, born in Dresden, Kingdom of Saxony (d. 1885)
  • Feb 25 George Washington Cullom, American Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in New York City (d. 1892)
  • Mar 10 William David Porter, Commander (Union Navy), (d. 1864)
  • Mar 15 Joseph Jenkins Roberts, American-born Liberian merchant and politician (1st President of Liberia 1848-56), born in Norfolk, Virginia (d. 1876)
  • Mar 15 Karl Josef von Hefele, German theologian (d. 1893)
  • Mar 19 Fredrik Pacius, German-Finnish composer (Finnish and Estonian national anthems), conductor, and music educator, known as "the Father of Finnish music", born in Hamburg, Germany (d. 1891)
  • Mar 24 Joseph Liouville, French mathematician (discover of transcendental numbers), born in Saint-Omer, France (d. 1882)
  • Mar 24 Mariano José de Larra, Spanish journalist and romantic writer, born in Madrid, Spain (d. 1837)
  • Mar 27 Georges Eugene, Baron Haussmann, French administrator and architect, born in Paris (d. 1891)
  • Mar 31 Edward FitzGerald, British poet, writer, and translator (Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam), born in Bredfield, Sussex, England (d. 1883)
  • Mar 31 Nikolai Gogol [Nikolay], Ukrainian-born Russian novelist, humorist, and dramatist (Dead Souls, The Inspector-General), born in Sorochintsy, Poltava Governorate, Russian Empire (d. 1852)
  • Mar 31 Otto Jonas Lindblad, Swedish composer (Kungssången - Royal Anthem), born in Karlstorp, Sweden (d. 1864)
  • Apr 1 Willem Ruys, Dutch ship owner and founder of Rotterdam Lloyd (Nedlloyd), born in Ouderkerk aan de Amstel, Netherlands (d. 1889)
  • Apr 4 Benjamin Pierce, American mathematician and astronomer (Peirce's criterion for outliers), born in Salem, Massachusetts (d. 1880)
  • Apr 14 George Willem Vreede, Dutch lawyer and politician, born in Tilburg, Netherlands (d. 1880)
  • Apr 15 Hermann Grassmann, German linguist and mathematician, born in Stettin, Province of Pomerania, Kingdom of Prussia (d. 1877)
  • Apr 17 Philip St. George Cocke, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), born in Bremo Bluff, Virginia (d. 1861)
  • Apr 20 John S. Preston, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), born in Abingdon, Virginia (d. 1881)
  • Apr 21 Robert M. T. Hunter, American lawyer and politician (2nd Confederate States Secretary of State), born in Loretto, Virginia (d. 1887)
  • Apr 23 Eugene-Prosper Prevost, French composer, born in Paris (d. 1872)
  • May 6 William Walker, American composer (The Southern Harmony), born in Martin's Mills, Cross Keys, South Carolina (d. 1875)
  • Jun 13 George Philip St Cooke, American Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in Leesburg, Virginia (d. 1895)
  • Jun 15 François-Xavier Garneau, French Canadian poet and historian (d. 1866)
  • Jun 18 Sylvanus William Godon, Commander (Union Navy), (d. 1879)
  • Jun 27 François Certain Canrobert, French marshal and parliament member, born in Saint-Céré, France (d. 1895)
  • Jul 8 Ljudwit Gaj, Croatian writer and poet of the Illyrian movement (Pjesma iz Zagorja), born in Krapina, Kingdom of Croatia (d. 1872)
  • Jul 10 Friedrich August Quenstedt, German geologist and paleontologist, born in Eisleben, Saxony (d. 1889)
  • Jul 28 Ormsby McKnight Mitchel, American astronomer and Union Major General, born in Union County, Kentucky (d. 1862)
  • Jul 30 Charles Chiniquy, Canadian Catholic priest who left the Roman Catholic Church and became a Presbyterian minister, born in Kamouraska, Quebec (d. 1899)
  • Aug 1 William Barret Travis, American lawyer and soldier (commander at Battle of the Alamo), born in Saluda County, South Carolina (d. 1836)

Alfred Tennyson (1809-1892)

Aug 6 British Poet Laureate of Great Britain (The Charge of the Light Brigade), born in Somersby, Lincolnshire, England

  • Aug 27 Hannibal Hamlin, American attorney and 15th Vice President of U.S. (1861-65), born in Paris, Massachusetts (d. 1891)
  • Aug 29 Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., American physician and author (Old Ironsides), born in Cambridge, Massachusetts (d. 1894)
  • Aug 30 Adolf Friedrich Hesse, German composer, born in Wrocław, Poland (d. 1863)
  • Sep 4 Juliusz Slowacki, Polish poet (Trip to H Land), born in Kremenets, Russian Empire (d. 1849)
  • Sep 5 Manuel Montt Torres, President of Chile (851-61), born in Petorca, Chile (d. 1880)
  • Sep 9 William Radford, U.S. Navy rear admiral, born in Fincastle, Virginia (d. 1890)
  • Sep 20 Sterling "Old Pap" Price, American lawyer, U.S. Army Brigadier General and politician (11th Governor of Missouri), born in Prince Edward County, Virginia (d. 1867)
  • Sep 21 Sophia Hawthorne, American writer, painter and illustrator, born in Salem, Massachusetts (d. 1871)
  • Sep 27 Raphael Semmes, American Rear Admiral (Confederate Navy), born in Charles County, Maryland (d. 1877)
  • Oct 2 Anton Emil Titl, Austrian composer, born in Nedvědice (d. 1882)
  • Oct 4 Prince Albert of Prussia, Prussian colonel general, born in Königsberg, East Prussia (now Kalingrad, Russia) (d. 1872)
  • Oct 4 Robert Cumming Schenck, American Major General (Union Army), born in Franklin, Ohio (d. 1890)
  • Oct 11 Orson Squire Fowler, American phrenologist and lecturer, born in Cohocton, New York (d. 1887)
  • Oct 16 Francesco Schira, composer, born in Island of Malta (d. 1883)
  • Oct 22 Federico Ricci, Italian composer, born in Naples, Kingdom of Naples (d. 1877)
  • Oct 22 Volney E. Howard, American politician, born in Oxford County, Maine (d. 1889)
  • Oct 27 Peter Donders, Dutch Roman Catholic missionary to Suriname, born in Tilburg, Netherlands (d. 1887)
  • Nov 4 Benjamin Robbins Curtis, American attorney and Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, born in Watertown, Massachusetts (d. 1874)
  • Nov 9 Albert Taylor Bledsoe, American Episcopal priest and Confederate Army officer, born in Frankfurt, Kentucky (d. 1877)
  • Nov 13 John A. Dahlgren, US Navy officer and inventor (Civil war Dahlgren-cannon), born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (d. 1870)
  • Nov 22 Benedict Augustin Morel, Austrian-French psychologist (dementia praecox), born in Vienna, Austria (d. 1873)
  • Nov 23 Horatio Phillips Van Cleve, American Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in Princeton, New Jersey (d. 1891)
  • Nov 26 Marià Obiols, Catalan composer, born in Barcelona (d. 1888)
  • Nov 27 Frances Anne "Fanny" Kemble, British Shakespearian actress (Juliet) and author, born in London, England (d. 1893)
  • Nov 30 Thomas Molleson Mudie, English composer, born in London (d. 1876)
  • Dec 3 Thomas Alfred Davies, American Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in Black Lake, New York (d. 1899)
  • Dec 6 Stephen Thomas, American Brigadier General (Union Army), born in Bethel, Vermont (d. 1903)
  • Dec 16 Pieter van Bosse, Dutch politician, Liberal Minister of Finance, born in Amsterdam, Netherlands (d. 1879)
  • Dec 19 Pierre-Joseph van Beneden, Belgian paleontologist (life cycle of tapeworms), born in Mechelen, Belgium (d. 1894)
  • Dec 20 Friedrich Karl Kuhmstedt, German composer, born in Oldisleben, Grand Duchy of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (d. 1858)

Kit Carson (1809-1868)

Dec 24 American frontiersman, Indian fighter and army officer, born in Madison County, Kentucky

  • Dec 26 William Nelson Pendleton, American Brigadier-General (Confederate Army), born in Richmond, Virginia (d. 1883)
  • Dec 29 Albert Pike, US attorney, soldier, writer, and freemason (Brigadier-General in the Confederate Army), born in Boston, Massachusetts (d. 1891)

William Gladstone (1809-1898)

Dec 29 British statesman and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (Liberal: 1868-74, 1880-86, 1892-94), born in Liverpool, England