Empress Cemetery

Empress, Alberta is right on the border with Saskatchewan,
and the Empress Cemetery is in Saskatchewan.

GPS Coordinates: 50.922367, -109.981017

I am currently creating a new map and directory
for the Empress Cemetery. I started 2024-Oct-27.

I have copies of the old, out-of-date map and directory, and I make trips to the cemetery to verify older graves and document newer ones.

The results will be here eventually when I am finished.
Maybe they will also be available on the Village of Empress website also.

Progress

Complete: Columns 10 through 18 (north side), and Columns 1 & 2 (south side)
Still to do: Columns 3 through 9 (south side). Some scattered graves are complete.
2024-Nov-22: The in-cemetery work is now on hold until the snow is gone.

When I say "Complete", I mean that the graves are identified/verified, photographed, mapped, and put in the new directory.

Find a Grave®: I am also posting the photos & information to the individual memorial pages on the Find a Grave® website for the Empress Cemetery, and linking family members when I can.

2025-Jan: I am also now adding people to my "Empress Cemetery" Tree on Ancestry® because I've been doing research on the people in the cemetery. This way, all the information, sources, and many family members are available to the public ... well, at least to those who subscribe to Ancestry®. People who are buried in the cemetery are tagged with "In Cemetery". My Empress Cemetery directory will have links for each person to this tree for those I researched.

Links

Empress Cemetery on the Village of Empress website.

Empress Cemetery on the Find a Grave® website
The Empress Express, an old newspaper that was published between 1913-1936.
Find Birth, Marriage and Death Records: Alberta, Saskatchewan, British Columbia.
Search historical Canada Census.

Obscure locations in the area around the Empress Cemetery
Search the Canadian Geographical Names Database (CGNDB)

Empress Cemetery Information

As you can see from the Overview Plot Map below, there are Columns running north-south. Each individual square is a Plot and inside it are Sub-plots (or graves). The Plot numbers start in the south on the east side of the column, counting up going north. When reaching the farthest north in the column, turns around and continues counting up going south on the west side of the column. So the south end of the columns have both the first Plot number (1), and the highest Plot number just to the west of Plot 1.

Each grave is 10 feet long (east-west), and 5 feet wide (north-south). Walkways are 6 feet wide.
These are all "ideal" measurements. The real measurements, and even the exact placement of a grave, can be a little "off" from the plan.

Each grave has a designation label in the form of # - # - #
In the example of 10-24-2:

10	is the Column
24	is the Plot
2	is the Sub-plot/Grave

Sub-plot/Grave "M" means middle, when a grave can only be described as being in-between other graves.
Sub-plot/Grave "W" means walkway, when a grave was placed in a walkway.

Empress Cemetery Overview Plot Map (2024-Nov-17)

Sub-plot labeling

Empress Cemetery Overview Plot Map (2024-11-17)

Large Plots are 20 feet to a side and contain 8 graves. All have the same Sub-plot/Grave labeling scheme.

Middle-sized Plots are 20 feet east-west and 10 feet north-south, containing 4 graves. All have the same Sub-plot/Grave labeling scheme. They are only at the south ends of columns 1, 2, 3.

Small Plots are 10 feet to a side and contain 2 graves. They have a different Sub-plot/Grave labeling scheme, depending on whether the Plot is on the east side of the Column, or the west side of the Column. Here is an example of the south end of a Column, where the Plot numbers are 1, 2, 49, 50:

The directions map I made a few years ago:

An annotated satellite map of the cemetery:

The sped-up dashcam video I made of the Drive from
Empress to Empress Cemetery, Alberta, Canada:

Bruce's page on the Empress Cemetery

Empress, Alberta, Canada

Empress, Alberta is right on the border with Saskatchewan,
and the Empress Cemetery is in Saskatchewan.