Givins

Scott Joplin, composer and pianist, called the "King of Ragtime," son of Jiles and Florence (Givins) Joplin, was born about 1867 possibly at Caves Spring, near Linden in Northeast Texas. His father, a laborer and former slave who possessed rudimentary musical ability, moved the family to Texarkana by about 1875. Encouraged by family music making, Scott, at age seven, was proficient in banjo and began to experiment on a piano owned by a neighbor, attorney W. G. Cook, for whom Mrs. Joplin did domestic work.