John Henry Doc Holliday: A Simple Matter of Survival

For the dentist turned gunman from Georgia, from 1864 until his final days in Glenwood Springs, Colorado, in 1887, life was a struggle for survival. If his family wasn’t fleeing the abject destruction being wrought by Gen. William T. Sherman in Georgia during the dying days of the old Confederacy, John Henry himself, beginning in the early 1870s, was locked in a desperate struggle with the dreaded disease tuberculosis for which there was no cure.

In his early life, John Henry Holliday was schooled and trained for a professional career as a dentist and dental surgeon. He had dedicated himself to this objective and attended the best schools toward the achievement of that goal. However, upon the discovery of the fatal disease he had contracted, his life was dramatically altered forever.

Though we do not know for certain the actual impetus for his immediate departure from Georgia, most historians have narrowed it down to either an effort at obtaining a better climate for the preservation of his lungs, or a combination of that objective coupled with a departure over a broken romance with a first cousin – Mattie Holliday.

For many years after his death, Holliday was virtually forgotten. Following his burial, any notoriety he had enjoyed disappeared with him beneath the dark Colorado soil of the Glenwood Springs town cemetery. Indeed, such was his total dismissal by the residents of that community that, to this very day, they have no idea of the actual location of his burial, and only marked a presumed spot of interment in recent years in order to take advantage of the burgeoning tourism value of his former association with the town.

It wasn’t until the 1950s and the advent of “television serials” that the former fame of many historic figures associated with early America began to dramatically reemerge. With the additional release of major motion pictures in which the Earp family of frontier fame was prominently featured, interest was regenerated as well in the native son of Georgia.

On the pages of this book, much of the life of Holliday – including that portrayed in the fascinating period photographs of him, his family, and his famous contemporaries – is explored and documented for posterity. Many of the myths of his life and the mysteries secreted therein are examined – some for the first time – to reveal not only a clearer explanation of his life, but also possible circumstances hitherto unknown of this fascinating historic figure of the old West.

R. Olin Jackson was raised in northwest Georgia, where he attended the public schools. In 1971, he volunteered for service in the United States Army where he was trained as a military policeman and ultimately assigned to the security detail (via the 529th Military Police Company) for the U.S. Army Commander of NATO, Gen. Michael S. Davison, in Heidelberg, Germany.While Olin was assigned to this unit, it was awarded the Brigadier General Jeremiah P. Holland Award as the top military police company worldwide in the United States Army. Upon completion of his military service, Olin was awarded the Good Conduct Medal and the Army Commendation Medal for distinction of service and honorably discharged.Olin returned stateside where he earned a bachelor's degree in journalism from Georgia State University in 1977, and a master's degree in political science history from the University of North Georgia in 1982. He also completed most of the requirements for the Master of Public Administration degree at Georgia State University in Atlanta.In 1987, Olin founded Legacy Communications, Inc., where he became the executive editor and publisher of his flagship award-winning creations - North Georgia Journal and Georgia Backroads magazines - the premier travel and history publications of Georgia. He parlayed this endeavor into a successful 18-year publishing career.In the interim, Olin also wrote/co-wrote and edited a selection of books, including "Moonshine, Murder and Mayhem in Georgia" (2003); "Tales of the Rails in Georgia" (2004); and "Georgia Backroads Traveler" (2005) among others. In 2005, Olin sold Legacy Communications and the magazines and semi-retired to manage an investment portfolio of commercial real estate.In 2021, he returned to the world of journalism, founding Whippoorwill Publications, LLC. His literary creations at Whippoorwill have included "Mystery & History in Georgia, Volume I" (2022) (recently honored with a Five-Star Award by Readers' Favorite book awards); "Mystery & History in Georgia, Volume II" (2023); "Some Genealogy Keys to Some Georgia Family Trees" (2023); and "Memories of Army Life and MPs of the 529th" (2023). These and other creative works - including a selection of original poems entitled "After All That We've Been Through" (2023) - are available at IngramSpark.com, Amazon.com, Barnes&Noble.com, and other fine book sellers.Olin is married to the former Judy Grizzle of Dahlonega, Georgia. The couple make their home in Roswell. Olin also has a son - Burke - by a former marriage. He and his talented wife, Olga, have produced two wonderful grandchildren - Alexander and Catherine.