Historical Events
- Jan 1 1st official horse race in South Australia-Adelaide
Morse, Vail Demonstrate Telegraph
Jan 6 Samuel Morse and Alfred Vail demonstrate their telegraph machine in New Jersey
- Jan 8 Rebellion at Amherstburg, Ontario breaks out
Morse Code Demonstrated
Jan 11 First public demonstration of telegraph messages sent using dots and dashes at Speedwell Ironworks in Morristown, New Jersey by Samuel Morse and Alfred Vail
Famous Birthdays
- Jan 1 William Hugh Young, Brigadier General (Confederate Army), (d. 1901)
- Jan 4 Charles Stratton [General Tom Thumb], famous short person (performed with P. T. Barnum), born in Bridgeport, Connecticut (d. 1883)
- Jan 5 Camille Jordan, French mathematician, born in Lyon, France (d. 1922)
- Jan 6 Max Bruch, German composer (Kol Nidre), born in Cologne, Kingdom of Prussia (d. 1920)
- Jan 16 Franz Brentano, German philosopher and psychologist, born in Rhine Province, Germany (d. 1917)
Famous Deaths
- Jan 13 Ferdinand Ries, German pianist, composer, and Beethoven's secretary and copyist, dies at 53
- Jan 20 Pierre-Louis Hus-Desforges, French composer and cellist, dies at 64
- Jan 28 Aleksandr Polezhayev, Russian poet (Sasjka), dies at 33 [OS 16 Jan]
- Jan 30 Osceola, chief of Seminole indians, dies in jail
