- Jan 3 Karl Collan, Finnish composer, born in Iisalmi, Finland (d. 1871)
- Jan 5 August Valentine Kautz, German-American Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in Baden, Germany (d. 1895)
- Jan 10 Herman Koeckemann, German Catholic prelate, born in Ostbevern, Germany (d. 1892)
- Jan 17 Eduard Reményi, Hungarian violinist and composer, born in Miskolc, Austria-Hungary (d. 1898) [some sources cite birth year as 1830]
- Jan 17 Lewis Addison Grant, American teacher, lawyer, and Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in Winhall, Vermont (d. 1918)
- Jan 23 Calvin Edward Pratt, American Brigadier General (Union Army), born in Worcester County, Massachusetts (d. 1896)
- Jan 24 Adam Jacoby Slemmer, American Brigadier General (Union Army), born in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania (d. 1868)
- Jan 24 Ferdinand Cohn, German biologist, born in Wrocław, Poland (d. 1898)
- Jan 24 Karol Studzinski, Polish violinist and composer, born in The Free, Independent, and Strictly Neutral City of Cracow (now Kraków, Poland) (d. 1883)
- Jan 27 Louis Schubert, German, violinist, composer, and pedagogue, born in Dessau, German Confederation (d. 1884)
- Jan 27 Samuel Allen Rice, American Attorney General of Iowa and Brigadier General (Union Army), born in Cattaraugus, New York (d. 1864)
- Jan 28 Michel Abeloos, Flemish sculptor, born in Leuven (d. 1881)
- Jan 28 Thomas Carmichael Hindman, Jr., American attorney, and Confederate Army Major General, born in Knoxville Tennessee (d. 1868)
20-29
30-39
40-49
50-59
80-89
Over 90