- Feb 7 Gardner Quincy Colton, American lecturer who was the first to use nitrous oxide as an anesthetic in dentistry, born in Georgia, Vermont (d. 1898)
- Feb 9 Samuel J. Tilden, American politician (Governor of New York 1875-76, Presidential candidate 1876) and philanthropist (NY Public Library), born in New Lebanon, New York (d. 1886)
- Feb 18 Samuel Fenton Cary, U. S. Congressman (d. 1900)
- Feb 21 Nicolo Gabrielli, Italian opera composer, born in Naples, Kingdom of the Two Sicilies (d. 1891)
- Feb 22 Oskar Kolberg, Polish ethnographer, folklorist, and composer (Lud), born in Przysucha, Poland (d. 1890)
- Feb 25 Taras Shevchenko, Ukrainian national poet and painter, born in Moryntsi, Ukraine (d. 1861) [OS]
- Feb 26 Charles Joseph Sainte-Claire Deville, French geologist (d. 1876)