Famous People Born In 1745

One of the Founding Fathers of the United States who signed the famous Paris Treaty, John Jay was best known as the first Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court, although he occupied various other important public positions. He was a diplomat, who shaped his country’s foreign policy. He passed legislation to gradually abolish slavery, but he himself owned five enslaved people.

Olaudah Equiano was a writer and abolitionist who was part of the abolitionist group, Sons of Africa, composed of Africans living in Britain in the 18th century. Enslaved as a child and sold to different “masters,” he eventually purchased his freedom and became one of the leaders of the anti-slave trade movement in the 1780s.  

Kazimierz Pułaski was a Polish nobleman, military commander, and soldier. Dubbed the father of the American cavalry, Pulaski is credited with creating the Pulaski Cavalry Legion and reorganizing the American cavalry. He played an important role in the American Revolutionary War and is remembered for fighting for the independence of Poland and the United States.

Francis Asbury was a bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He played an important role during the Second Great Awakening, popularizing Methodism in British colonial America. He is credited with establishing many schools and his journal is deemed important by scholars due to its account of frontier society; his journal has descriptions of the functioning of towns in Colonial America.

Johan Christian Fabricius was a Danish zoologist. He specialized in "Insecta", which at that time included all insects, arachnids, crustaceans, and other anthropoids. He studied under the renowned Swedish zoologist Carl Linnaeus and went on to become one of the most important entomologists of the 18th century. He is credited to have named nearly 10,000 species of animals. 

English religious author Hannah More soared to literary fame with the release of Village Politics, penned under the pseudonym Will Chip. Its popularity made her write an entire series of tracts that educated the poor. She also established clubs and schools, apart from opposing slavery along with the Clapham Sect.

Edward Bancroft was a Massachusetts-born chemist and physician. He played an important role during the American Revolution, working as a double agent for both Great Britain and the United States. Edward Bancroft's activity as a double agent wasn't disclosed until 1891, when diplomatic papers were made public knowledge by Great Britain.

German physician Johann Peter Frank is remembered for his pathbreaking ideas on public health. Though he initially studied theology, he later switched to medicine. He had been a court physician, a councillor, and a professor. He was one of the first to suggest international monitoring of health issues.

Johan Gottlieb Gahn was a Swedish metallurgist and chemist best remembered for discovering manganese in 1774. He is also credited with introducing improvements in copper smelting. In 1784, Johan Gottlieb Gahn was inducted into the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

Jean-Baptist-Point Du Sable is considered the first permanent non-Indigenous settler of the area that would later become known as Chicago, Illinois. He was of African descent and married to a Native American woman. He established a prosperous trading settlement and traded around the Great Lakes and in the Illinois Country. He is recognized as the "Founder of Chicago." 

James Tytler made history by becoming the first person from Britain to ride on a hot air balloon and thus became known as Balloon Tytler. The Scottish apothecary also edited the second edition of Encyclopedia Britannica and was branded an eccentric by many for his innovative aviation experiments.

Japanese musician, painter, and calligrapher Uragami Gyokudō was an accomplished seven-stringed zither player. He later studied Confucianism and excelled in the Chinese Nan-ga, or Southern school style of painting. His best-known work is Snow Sifted Through Frozen Clouds, which is considered a National Treasure of Japan.

Johan Nordahl Brun was a Norwegian dramatist, poet, politician, and bishop of Bergen. He is best remembered for his significant contribution to the growth of romantic nationalism in Norway. An influential poet, Johan Nordahl Brun is credited with writing Bergen's anthem as well as Norway's first unofficial national song.

Colin Macfarquhar was a Scottish printer and bookseller best remembered for co-founding Encyclopædia Britannica, which was first published in 1768. After acquiring the status of a master printer, Macfarquhar went on to open a printing shop in Edinburgh and the first edition of Encyclopædia Britannica was sold at his shop. Colin Macfarquhar also contributed to Britannica's second and third editions.