January 3, 1892 – J. R. R. Tolkien, author of The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings, is born in Bloemfontein, South Africa.
January 4, 1809 – Louis Braille is born in France. Blinded as a boy, he invents a reading system for the blind using punch marks in paper.
January 6, 1412 – Joan of Arc is born in France. After a series of mystic visions, she inspires French troops to break the British siege at Orleans and win several important battles during the Hundred Years War.
January 7, 1800 – Millard Fillmore, the 13th U. S. President, is born in a log cabin in Cayuga County, New York.