Omen

Omen, also known at various times as Round Hill, Canton, Clopton, Troup, and Old Canton, is a rural community on State Highway 345 in southeastern Smith County about two miles west of Arp and just south of Omen Road Bay. The area was first settled when Arnold O'Brien and his family arrived in 1848. The following year the county commissioners' court decided to build the Larissa-Shreveport Road through the northern part of O'Brien's land, and the road made the settlement accessible to other pioneers. In December 1849 O'Brien established in his home a post office that he named Round Hill. Thomas M. Bell also opened an inn as a stage stop on the Tyler-Henderson Road. In 1850 Thomas H. Weatherby, Mitus White, and James W. Powell bought a thirty-acre tract from Rebecca Mar Hill. Powell later sold his share to Alexander Douglas. The partners divided their property into lots and appointed themselves commissioners for the new town. In 1851 Thomas N. Gregory replaced O'Brien as postmaster and changed the name of the settlement to Canton. David H. Lindsey and Isaac Wayman Engledow opened the first store in Canton in 1852. That year citizens changed the name of the town to Clopton because the seat of Van Zandt County was also called Canton. A two-story shop, built by Lively and Walker, became the meeting place for the Cumberland Presbyterian Church and the Masons. Other stores were established, and David Lindsey sold 2? acres to the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.