Historical Events
California Gold Rush
Jan 24 James Marshall finds gold in Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California
Famous Birthdays
- Jan 1 John Goff, Irish lawyer (d. 1924)
- Jan 4 Katsura Taro, Japanese general and politician (Prime Minister of Japan 1901-1906, 1908-1911, 1912-1913), born in Hagi, Japan (d. 1913)
- Jan 5 Khristo Botev, Bulgarian poet and nationalist revolutionary, born in Kalofer, Bulgaria (d. 1876)
- Jan 5 Same Steele, Canadian soldier, born in Purbrook, Canada West (d. 1919)
- Jan 9 Princess Frederica of Hanover, born in Hanover, Kingdom of Hanover (d. 1926)
- Jan 18 Ioan Slavici, Transylvanian writer (d. 1925)
- Jan 19 John F. Stairs, Canadian businessman (d. 1904)
Matthew Webb (1848-1883)
Jan 19 English long distance swimmer who was first to swim unassisted across the English Channel, born in Dawley, England
- Jan 21 Henri Duparc, French composer, born in Paris, France (d. 1933)
- Jan 22 Samuel Muller Fz, Dutch historian and archivist (Middle Ages) (d. 1922)
- Jan 24 Vasily Surikov, Russian painter (d. 1916)
- Jan 27 Tōgō Heihachirō, Imperial Japanese Navy admiral and one of Japan's greatest naval heroes, born in Kajiya-Chō, Kagoshima-Jōka, Satsuma, Japan (d. 1934)
Famous Deaths
- Jan 5 Ferdinando Orlandi, Italian musician and composer, dies at 73
- Jan 9 Caroline Herschel, German-British pioneering female astronomer (comet 35P/Herschel-Rigolle), dies at 97
- Jan 20 Christian VIII, King of Denmark (1839-1848) and King of Norway (1814), dies of blood poisoning at 61
- Jan 24 Horace Wells, American dentist (pioneered use of medical anesthesia), commits suicide after committing a crime under the influence of chloroform at 33
