John Henry's mother was a Southern beauty, and his father was a druggist, planter and soldier. Henry Holliday volunteered to fight Indians in Georgia in 1838, Mexicans in 1846 and Yankees in 1861. He rose to the rank of major during the Civil War, but sickness caused him to resign his commission in 1862. Two years later he moved his family to Valdosta, Ga., near the Florida line, when he realized that his old home was in the path of Union General William Tecumseh Sherman's 'March to the Sea.' The senior Holliday quickly became one of Valdosta's leading citizens. Alice Holliday died on September 16, 1866, after a long illness. Her death was a terrible blow to 15-year-old John Henry, as he and his mother had been very close. It did not help that his father married Rachel Martin only three months later, on December 18, 1866. Rachel was only a few years older than John Henry. In 1876, Henry Holliday was elected mayor of Valdosta. Have you ever been to Valdosta, Georgia?

By all accounts, Holliday was a bright student who excelled at school. His devotion to his books accelerated in 1866 when his mother died of tuberculosis. Her death devastated Holliday, and he poured himself into math and science as a way to cope with her loss. In 1870, Holliday moved to Philadelphia to attend what is now called the University of Pennsylvania Dental School. Because of his family's status, John Henry was compelled to choose some sort of profession. He enrolled in dental college in 1870, attending lecture sessions in 1870–72. He wrote his thesis on 'Diseases of the Teeth.' Lucian Frink, who practiced dentistry in Valdosta from 1868 until 1879, served as his preceptor. Philadelphia's Musical Fund Hall, built in 1824 and the scene of the First Ever National Republican Convention in 1856. The Pennsylvania College of Dental Surgery's 16th annual commencement was held March 1, 1872, in the Musical Fund Hall. The college conferred a 'Degree of Doctor of Dental Surgery' upon 26 men, one of whom was John Henry Holliday. Have you ever visited Philadelphia and or seen the Musical Fund Hall building?

Upon completion of his training, Dr. Holliday opened an office with Dr. Arthur C. Ford in Atlanta. A short time later, Holliday discovered that he had tuberculosis. He consulted a number of doctors, and all of them predicted a short future. They did say, however, that he would do better in a dry climate. So Holliday packed up and headed west. His first stop was in Dallas, Texas. Coughing spells were wracking Holliday's thin frame and often occurred at inopportune times, such as in the midst of a filling or an extraction. As a result, his dental business gradually declined. It appears that he had also lost interest in the business . He had discovered that he possessed a natural ability for gambling, and it quickly became his principal means of support. If Doc had remained healthy, not gotten TB like his Mother, and been able to continue his Dental practice, do you think he would have been a gambler?

In the Frontier West, a gambler had to be able to protect himself, for he usually stood alone. Holliday faithfully practiced with a revolver and knife. He soon developed a reputation as a man who could handle weapons, as well as cards and liquor. Holliday encouraged the stories that made him out to be a skilled gunman ready to kill at the drop of a hat. He did it for his own protection, since he was slim and frail and no match physically for most of the clientele in saloons. Do you think his reputation protected him more than his weapons?

Jacksboro, Texas, in 1876, he was known as the 'Deadly Dentist,' thanks in large part to his own tales. His alleged tally, accepted as gospel by some writers, was one gambler dead, two gamblers wounded and one 6th Cavalryman dead. In the early fall of 1877, Holliday was back in Fort Griffin, Texas. In November, Wyatt Earp rode into the 'Flat' (the name for the civilian settlement near the fort) on the trail of outlaw Dave Rudabaugh. Holliday found out where Rudabaugh was and informed Earp of his whereabouts — down near Fort Davis. Holliday and Earp thus became friends — a friendship that would last all of Doc's life. Do you have a friend who is there for you in times or trouble?