Historical Events
- Jan 1 Presbyterian minister John Miller Dickey and his wife, Sarah Emlen Cresson, found Ashmun Institute, a Black college (later Lincoln University),in Hinsonville, Pennsylvania
- Jan 4 The McDonald Islands are discovered by Captain William McDonald aboard the Samarang
- Jan 5 Steamship San Francisco wrecked off US eastern seaboard, 300 die
Bednost ne Porok
Jan 25 Aleksandr Ostrovsky's play "Bednost ne Porok" premieres in Moscow
Famous Birthdays
- Jan 1 James George Frazer, Scottish anthropologist and folklorist (The Golden Bough), born in Glasgow, Scotland (d. 1941)
Alice Mary Robertson (1854-1931)
Jan 2 American educator, social worker and 2nd woman in US Congress, born in Tullahassee Mission, Indian Territory
- Jan 6 Sherlock Holmes, British fictional detective (as created by Arthur Conan Doyle) (d. 1891) date of death disputed
- Jan 9 Jennie Jerome, American society beauty and mother of Winston Churchill (d. 1921)
- Jan 10 Heinrich Köselitz [Peter Gast], German composer, born in Annaberg-Buchholz, Kingdom of Saxony (d. 1918)
- Jan 18 Thomas A. Watson, American inventor, assistant to Alexander Graham Bell in inventing the telephone, born in Salem, Massachusetts (d. 1934) [1]
- Jan 22 Luke Short, American Old West gunslinger and saloon owner, born in Polk County, Arkansas (d. 1893)
Famous Deaths
- Jan 4 Thomas Campbell, Irish-American clergyman (founder of Disciples of Christ movement in America), dies at 90
- Jan 8 William Carr Beresford, 1st Viscount Beresford, British general and politician, dies at 85
- Jan 9 Filippo Traetta [Philip Trajetta], Italian composer, dies at 77
- Jan 18 Judah Touro, American philanthropist (Mount Sinai Hospital in NY), dies at 78
