- Feb 3 Horace Greeley, American founder and editor of the New-York Tribune ("Go west, young man"), born in Amherst, New Hampshire (d. 1872)
- Feb 6 Henry George Liddell, English lexicographer & father of the Alice in Alice in Wonderland, born in Bishop Auckland, United Kingdom (d. 1898)
- Feb 8 Edwin Denison Morgan, American politician, Governor of New York, born in Washington, Massachusetts (d. 1883)
- Feb 15 Domingo F Sarmiento, President of Argentina (1868-74), born in San Juan, Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata (d. 1888)
- Feb 23 George Washington Hewitt, American composer, born in New York City (d. 1893)
- Feb 24 Daniel Payne, American bishop, reformer and educator (African Methodist Episcopal Church), born in Charleston, South Carolina (d. 1893)
- Feb 24 Edward Dickinson Baker, British-American attorney, politician (US Senator from Oregon, 1860-61; US Representative from Illinois, 1845-47, 1849-51), and Union Army officer, born in London, England (d. 1861)
- Feb 25 Carl Schuberth, German composer, born in Magdeburg, Kingdom of Westphalia (d. 1863)