The Early Years of John Henry Holliday

Doc Holliday's real name is John Henry Holliday. He was born on Augusht 14, 1851 to Henry Burroughs Holliday and Alice Jane Holliday née McKey. His family was respected and his father had served in both the Mexican-American War and the Civil War.

John's mother died of tuberculosis on September 16, 1866, when John was 15 years old. Three months later, his father remarried Rachel Martin. Shortly after the marriage, the family moved to Valdosta, Georgia, where John attended the Valdosta Institute. There he received a strong classical secondary education in rhetoric, grammar, mathematics, history and languages — principally Latin, but also France and some ancient Greek. By college he was fluent in all 3 languages.

In 1870, 19 year-old John Henry left home to begin dental school in Philadelphia. On March 1, 1872, he received the degree of Doctor of Dental Surgery from the Pennsylvania College of Dental Surgery (now the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine). Later that year, he opened a dental office with Arthur C. Ford in Atlanta.







Doc Holliday 20 years old

John was a good dentist, but shortly after starting his practice, he discovered that he had contracted tuberculosis. Although he consulted a number of doctors, the consensus of all was that he had only months to live. However, they all concurred that he might add a few months to his life if he moved to a dry climate