- Feb 25 Simon Stijl, Frisian physician/writer
- Mar 11 Robert Treat Paine, judge, signer (Declaration of Independence)
- Apr 23 William Williams, American merchant (signed US Declaration of Independence), born in Lebanon, Connecticut (d. 1811)
Martha Washington
Jun 13 Martha Washington, 1st US First Lady (1789-97), born in Kent County, Virginia (d. 1802) [OS June 2]
Martha Washington
- Jul 3 Samuel Huntington, American politician and signer of the Declaration of Independence, born in Windham, Connecticut (d. 1796)
- Sep 2 Johann F von Cronegk, German playwright (Olint und Sophronia)
- Sep 9 Francisco Javier Clavijero, Mexican Jesuit teacher and writer, born in Veracruz, Mexico (d. 1787)
- Oct 10 Henry Cavendish, England, physicist and chemist (discovered hydrogen), born in Nice (d. 1810)
Benjamin Banneker
Nov 9 Benjamin Banneker, African American mathematician and surveyor of Washington, D.C., born in Ellicott's Mills, Maryland (d. 1806
Benjamin Banneker
- Nov 26 William Cowper, English pre-romantic poet (His Task), born in Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, England (d. 1800)
- Dec 6 Sophie von Laroche, German writer (History of Lady Sophia Sternheim), born in Kaufbeuren. Bavaria (d. 1807)
- Dec 7 Abraham-Hyacinthe Anquetil-Duperron, French scholar and interpreter, born in Paris (d. 1805)
- Dec 12 Erasmus Darwin, influential English physician, poet, philosopher, and botanist (grandfather of Charles Darwin), born in Newark-on-Trent, England (d. 1807)
- Dec 26 Anthony Ziesenis, architect/sculptor (Town Hall of Westzaan)