January 23, 1737 – John Hancock, American merchant and statesman who was first to sign the Declaration of Independence, is born in Braintree, Massachusetts.
January 25, 1783 – William Colgate, founder of the present-day Colgate-Palmolive Company, is born in Hollingbourne, Kent, England. His family emigrates to the U.S when he is 15 and he becomes an apprentice learning the soap trade.
January 26, 1880 - General Douglas MacArthur is born on a military base in Little Rock, Arkansas. He commanded Allied forces in the Pacific during World War II. He commanded U.N. forces after war broke out in Korea in 1950 until dismissed in 1951 by President Harry S. Truman in a disagreement over war policy.
January 27, 1932 – British novelist Lewis Carroll (author of “Alice in Wonderland” and “Through the Looking Glass”) is born in Daresbury, Cheshire, England.