Relationship 5: Simeon Clyde Williams & Bess Crystal McFarren

Relationship Record 5

Male/Husband} Williams, Simeon Clyde (Si)

Family History} Hancock

Female/Wife} McFarren, Bess Crystal (Bessie)

Relationship Type} Marriage

Marriage: Date} Exa 24 Apr 1924

Place} Woodland, Yolo, California

Ended: On Date} Exa 24 Sep 1976
By} Death of wife

Source 1}	9 = Biography
Source 2}	317 = Marriage rec
Source 3}	732 = 1930 USA census
Source 4}	1587 = 1940 USA census
Source 5}	1609 = 1950 USA census
Source 6}	1600 = City directory
Source 7}	1601 = Voter record
Source 8}	675 = Photographs
Source 9}	694 = Photographs
Source 10}	701 = Photographs
Source 11}	1218 = Photographs
Source 12}	719 = Death certif
Source 12}	71 = Death certif
Source 12}	1599 = Death rec
Source 12}	861 = S.S. record
Source 12}	1588 = Cemetery rec

1st Household No.} 3 = 1615 F Street, Napa, California

Photographs} Bess and Simeon

Last Updated
by} Karen Hancock

Date Updated} 23 Jan 2023
Date Created} 17 Jun 1994

Notes: After Bess had been at the Veterans Home in Yountville for about one year, she became pregnant in January 1920. To avoid embarrassment, Simeon and Bess said that they were married on 19 Dec 1919, in Woodland, California. However, 24 Apr 1924 was the actual legal date of their marriage. (They kept this latter date secret during their lifetimes — and told everyone that their marriage date was 19 Dec 1919. Hence they celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in December 1969.)

In the 1930 U.S. census, S.C. Williams, 33, and his wife Bessie, 30, were living at 1611 F. Street, Napa. Simeon was now a bookkeeper for a poultry plant. Bess was a floor worker in a laundry. Besides their two daughters, Viola, 9, and Lorraine, 7, the household included Bess's brother Roy McFarren and his wife Nell.

About 1930, Simeon and Bess bought a house at 458 Brown Street, Napa. The house was a bargain, and they rented it out, using the rental income to pay off the properties. When the 1611 F Street was sold in about 1934, they moved their family to the 458 Brown Street house.

Simeon started a grocery store in 1934 on Jefferson Street in Napa that quickly evolved into the Green Lantern restaurant. Bess cooked simple, homecooked meals at this popular eatery that eventually drew big-rig drivers whose trucks lined the curb waiting for the doors to open at dawn. The Green Lantern's hearty breakfasts and meatloaf luncheons were daily specials. They served blue collar workers until Simeon and Bess sold the business in 1947.

In 1939, Simeon built a one story house at 1615 F Street, Napa. In the 1940 U.S. census, Simeon, 42, and Bess, 40, were living here with their daughter Lorraine, 17. The house was valued at $4,000. Simeon was a bookkeeper, Bess was the owner of the restaurant, and Lorraine was a waittress.

In 1948 Bess and Simeon bought a new house and seven acres of land four miles south of Fort Bragg, California. In the 1950 U.S. census, they are enumerated as living on the road to Cara, Highway 1, Ten Mile River, Mendocino, California. Their home at 33601 Pacific Way was on the ocean-front lot. Simeon was doing bookkeeping chores for a Beer Distributing Co. The photos at the right are of Bess and Simeon, and picnics organized at the various beaches near their home at Fort Bragg.

The three photos at the right show Simeon and Bess at their 50th wedding anniversary party in Dec 1969 at Fort Bragg. The second photo shows them with their daughters Viola and Lorraine.

Bess developed ovarian cancer, and after a long illness, died 24 Sep 1976, at the Sherwood Oaks Health Center, Fort Bragg. Eventually Simeon moved back to Napa. He died 18 Aug 1984 at the Napa Nursing Center, Napa. They are buried in the Rose Memorial Park Cemetery, Fort Bragg, Mendocino, California.

Children:

Total # of Children} 2

Seq. # of Primary} 1

1st Child}	Williams, Viola Clide (Vi)
2nd Child}	Williams, Ruby Lorraine

Home Page