- Oct 1 Gustav Adolf Heinze, Dutch composer, born in Leipzig, Germany (d. 1904)
- Oct 5 David Wilber, American politician (Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New York), born in Quaker Street, Duanesburg, New York (d. 1890)
- Oct 6 Jenny Lind, Swedish soprano known as the 'Swedish Nightingale', born in Stockholm, Sweden (d. 1887)
- Oct 11 Alfred Washington Ellet, American civil engineer and Brigadier General (Union Army), born in Bucks County, Pennsylvania (d. 1895)
- Oct 13 John William Dawson, Canadian geologist, born in Pictou, Nova Scotia (d. 1899)
- Oct 20 Benjamin Franklin Cheatham, American Major General in the Confederate Army (let General John M. Schofield escape), born in Nashville, Tennessee (d. 1886)
- Oct 20 George Jerrison Stannard, American farmer, teacher, governmental official and Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in Georgia, Vermont (d. 1886)
- Oct 23 James Monroe Goggin, Brigadier General (Confederate Army), (d. 1889)