“Doc” Holliday

John Henry “Doc” Holliday was born in Griffin, Georgia on August 14, 1851, to Henry Burroughs Holliday and Alice Jane McKey. He was of English and Scottish ancestry. His father served in the Mexican-American War and the Civil War (as a Confederate).

He was a gambler, gunfighter and dentist of the American Old West, who is usually remembered for his friendship with Wyatt Earp and his involvement in the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral.

As a young man, Holliday earned a D.D.S. degree in dentistry and set up a practice in Atlanta, Georgia. However, in 1873 he was diagnosed with consumption (tuberculosis), the same disease that had claimed his mother when he was 15. He moved to the American southwest in hopes that the climate would prolong his life. Taking up gambling as a profession, he acquired a reputation as a deadly gunman.

During his travels, he met and became good friends with Wyatt Earp and Earp’s brothers. In 1880, he moved to Tombstone, Arizona, and participated alongside the Earp brothers in the famous gunfight. This did not settle matters between the two sides, and Holliday was embroiled in ensuing shootouts and killings. He successfully fought being extradited for murder and died in bed at a Colorado hotel/sanatorium November 8, 1887, at the age of 36.

The legend and mystique of his life is so great that he has been mentioned in countless books and portrayed by various actors in numerous movies and television series. For the nearly 150 years since his death, debate has continued about the exact crimes he may have committed during his life.

Some of Doc Holliday’s notable relatives include Ben Holladay, the “Stagecoach King,” and John Holladay, a Mormon pioneer and founder of Holladay, Utah and the city of San Bernardino, California. Another relative of note was Alexander Q. Holladay, politician, lawyer and Civil War Colonel in the Confederate Army.

John Henry “Doc” Holliday