- Jan 6 Melchora Aquino, Filipino revolutionary hero, born in Caloocan, Philippines (d. 1919)
- Jan 8 Sigismond Fortune Francois Thalberg, Swiss pianist, born in Geneva, Switzerland (d. 1871)
- Jan 8 William Henry Holmes, English composer, born in Sudbury, England (d. 1885)
- Jan 10 Georg Hermann Nicolai, German architect & educator, born in Torgau, Germany (d. 1881)
- Jan 13 Humphrey Marshall, American politician and Brigadier General in the Confederate Army, born in Frankfort, Kentucky (d. 1872)
- Jan 13 Victor de Laprade, French poet and critic (d. 1883)
- Jan 14 Carl Gradener, German composer, born in Rostock, Germany (d. 1883)
- Jan 15 Peter C Asbjornsen, Norwegian fairy tale writer, born in Oslo, Norway (d. 1885)
- Jan 20 Ralph Pomeroy Buckland, American Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in Leyden, Massachusetts (d. 1892)
- Jan 20 Thomas Meik, Scottish engineer (d. 1896)
- Jan 21 Moses Hess, Jewish socialist and nationalist, born in Bonn, Germany (d. 1875)
- Jan 31 John Randolph Tucker, American naval officer (Confederate Navy), born in Alexandria, Virginia (d. 1883)