Doctor John Henry Holliday
Wyatt’s Friend…
Doc Holliday …
I am enjoying a trilogy of novels- ‘Southern Son: the Saga of Doc Holliday.’ They are a great read. I share with Doc the love of dentistry, Florida history, Georgia History, New Mexico, Colorado and the West…I used to love the drinking and wild-life too…But by God’s Grace that is part of my past….
As a boy the only books I can remember reading were about Wyatt Earp and Bat Masterson. I rarely sat still long enough to read and if I did the book had to be exciting and true stories. While at Emory I developed a love for reading. Then back in the nineties I saw ‘Tombstone’, the movie. It has become a favorite movie which I repeatedly watch, Doc Holliday being my favorite character. I discovered that Doc Holliday and Zane Gray were both graduates of the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine. Here we have two dentist of western lore, one a famous gunfighter/psuedo-lawman and the other a storyteller/author.
My curiosity was piqued. Next I found and follow Doc Holliday on FaceBook. Then I was reminded that he was from Georgia was related to Margaret Mitchell, author of “Gone With The Wind.” Doc was supposedly the inspiration for one of the main characters in “Gone.” All this I found because of author, Victoria Wilcox (http://victoriawilcoxbooks.com). Victoria being a writer married to a practicing Georgia dentist. All this fed my growing curiosity.
The “Southern Son Sagas” as historical novels are reported to be very accurate. Victoria has done extensive research over many years to compile her material for these books. Doctor John Henry Holliday was a rich and complicated man. He possessed most of the human traits that I can relate to both good and bad. He like all of us exhibits the character of both sinner and saint. Good guy and bad, Doc’s life adventure sure has captured me….
Dr. Crawford Long, a Georgia physician and friend of the Holliday family, was the first to use ether as a general anesthetic. Dr. Long may have participated in the surgical repair of John Henry Holliday’s cleft lip. His lip was repaired in his infancy while his sister (older) died because her cleft palate was not or could not be repaired. She subsequently died of malnutrition being unable to nurse or feed properly. Dr. Long is still revered in Georgia medical circles.
A Scene From Tombstone…
Doc and Johnny Ringo met long before Tombstone Arizona according to the novels…
Recommended Reading….
