Doc Holliday

20 years of age	ca 1881

John Henry "Doc" Holliday was an American gambler, gunfighter and dentist. He was born August 14, 1851 in Griffin, Georgia and died November 8, 1887 in Glenwood, Colorado.  He attended the Pennsylvania College of Dental Surgery.  He married Big Nose Kate.

David Bryant emailed:
Doc Holliday initially practiced dentistry in Atlanta in 1872. Diagnosed with tuberculosis soon after starting his practice, Holliday decided to move to a drier climate out west. He opened a practice in Dallas, Texas, in March of 1873, but his constant cough turned off patients and he soon turned to gambling for his income. Knowing his life was destined to be short, he soon gained a reputation for being a very successful card player who was also quick to take offense and prone to violence. On January 1, 1875, he was arrested in Dallas after trading gunfire with a saloon-keeper and fined (neither man was injured), and he decided to move his practice to Denison soon after. After being found guilty and fined for illegal gambling in Denison in 1875, Holliday decided to leave Texas. He subsequently spent time in the Dakota and Colorado territories before returning to Texas. Holliday was living in Fort Griffin, Texas, when he first met Wyatt Earp, in 1877.

James Sears emailed:
For a slightly different account of John Henry "Doc" Holliday's arrival (1874) in and final departure (1875) from Denison, see Doc Holliday : A Family Portrait, by Karen Holliday Tanner (University of Oklahoma Pres, 1998, pp. 93-96).  Google Books has those pages.

Of particular interest to me was the revelation that when Holliday set out for Colorado, "He left behind five unclaimed letters at the Denison Post Office.  Apparently the letters were returned to his family in Georgia.

REFERENCE LIST:

1.   Gary L. Roberts, “Doc Holliday- The Life and Legend.”  Doc Holliday left Dallas in June, 1874 for Denison.  By May, 1875 he left Denison, going west.  The Denison (Texas) Daily Cresset reported unclaimed mail for Holliday the same month.

2.    Jim McIntire, “Early Days’ in Texas’” “A Trip to Hell and Heaven” 1902.  McIntire writes about his move to Denison from Ft. Worth in the latter part of 1884 “From Ft. Worth I went to Denison, where I played the games at the White Elephant saloon.  The officers of Denison were all right, and I stayed there for two months.’’  McIntire was wanted for murder in New Mexico and “Special Officers” came to Denison to arrest him.  He was tipped off and hired a horse (from the White Elephant Livery ?) and rode to the second station out of Denison on the Texas Pacific Railroad.  He bought a ticket to Shreveport, Louisiana, and took the first train.  From Shreveport he traveled by boat to Baton Rouge and completed his trip to New Orleans by Mississippi River Boat.

3.    Richard Selcer, “Legendary Watering Holes- The Saloons that made Texas Famous” 2004.  Chapter Five is about the White Elephant in Ft. Worth but mentions the White Elephant in Denison and other places.  There is a lot of information about Gabriel Burgower and John Ward who were from Denison.  Burgower had a grocery business on Main Street and Ward had been a conductor for the KATY railroad.  Also, there are pictures of Bill Ward, Luke Short, Jim McIntyre (sic), and Tim Courtright and a lot of information about them.  This book and Jim McIntire’s book are must reads to
get the whole story.  I saw some reference that the Austin College library had a copy of the McIntire book.

4. Robert K. DeArment, “Deadly Dozen-Forgotten Gunfighters of the Old West” 2010.  Chapter Nine tells the story about McIntire.  A photo of Jim McIntire is shown on the book cover.

      
         


Grayson County Law
Susan Hawkins
©2025

If you find any of Grayson CountyTXGenWeb links inoperable, please send me a message.