- Jan 2 William C Mills, museum curator (excavated Ohio Indian mounds)
- Jan 7 Emanuil Manolov, Bulgarian composer (Siromahkinia - 1st Bulgarian opera) (d. 1902)
- Jan 8 Nancy Jones, US African American missionary in Africa
- Jan 12 Henry Larkin, American baseball player (d. 1942)
- Jan 17 Douglas Hyde, President of Ireland (d. 1949)
- Jan 21 Karl Staaff, Prime Minister of Sweden (d. 1915)
- Jan 25 Charles Curtis, American attorney & politician (VP, 1929-33), born in Topeka, Kansas (d. 1936)
- Jan 26 Harry Micajah Daugherty, American politician, lawyer and political manager accused of corruption, born in Washington Court House, Ohio (d. 1941)
Anton Chekhov
Jan 29 Anton Chekhov, Russian playwright (Cherry Orchard), born in Taganrog, Russia (d. 1904)
