Empress Cemetery on FacebookBruce's website for the Empress Cemetery
Empress, Alberta, Canada
Empress, Alberta is right on the border with Saskatchewan,
and the Empress Cemetery is in Saskatchewan.
The Empress Cemetery is owned and operated by The Village of Empress.
They have limited funds for maintenance, and their policy is that maintenance of graves is up to the families of the deceased.
Empress Cemetery Bylaw (2018-08): On the Village website, or here.
This website (EmpressCemetery.ca), is not associated with The Village of Empress
They have limited funds for maintenance, and their policy is that maintenance of graves is up to the families of the deceased.
Empress Cemetery Bylaw (2018-08): On the Village website, or here.
This website (EmpressCemetery.ca), is not associated with The Village of Empress
| GPS Coordinates: 50.922367, -109.981017 | |
|---|---|
| SE¼ of 01-04-23-29-W3 | |
| Google Maps Android Phone |
Apple Maps iPhone link |
| what3words (///escaped.amid.custody) |
OpenStreetMap |
| Directions below | |
Maps & Directories
| These are PDF files with clickable links. | |||
| Item | Release Date | Pages | Page Size |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overview Map | 2025-May-12 | 1 | Letter (21.59 x 27.94 cm) |
| Detail Map | 2025-Oct-04 | 1 | 146 x 247 cm |
| Full Directory PDF, New: Web | 2025-Oct-04 | 25 | 94 x 27.94 cm |
| Basic Directory | 2025-Oct-04 | 13 | Letter (21.59 x 27.94 cm) |
| Graves Without Headstones | 2025-Oct-04 | 3 | Letter (21.59 x 27.94 cm) |
| Graves Without Headstones, but with problems | 2025-Aug-11 | 1 | Letter (21.59 x 27.94 cm) |
| The Full Directory and the Big Maps contain links that lead to individual pages containing my research on that person.  The purpose for my pages on each person is to give links for a variety of places on the Internet that has information for the person, because Find a Grave does not allow any links except to their own website, and Ancestry is pay only. My website doesn't have such limitations. I will add more as my research continues. | |||
| Find a Grave® - I post 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. |
Ancestry® - I created "Empress Cemetery" Tree on Ancestry® to keep track of my research on the people as well as their immediate families not in the Empress Cemetery. Links for individuals are in the Full Directory and my Individual pages here. Those who are in the cemetery have the Tag "In Cemetery"  . This Tree is publically available to those with a paid Ancestry® account. |
Columns, Plots and Sub-plots
| Columns run 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. |
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| 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. | |||||||||
| Sub-plot labeling | |
|---|---|
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Large Plots are 20 feet to a side and contain 8 graves. All have the same Sub-plot/Grave labeling scheme. |
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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. |
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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. |
| Block A: Potter's Field? Western half of cemetery? | |
| The entire western half of the cemetery appears empty on the surface. I speculate that this half was used for mostly unmarked and undocumented graves. In the records are a few graves in "Block A". One description calls them "public" and another description is "Potter's Field". None of these graves have any known markers, and I suspect that they never did. The location of "Block A" in the cemetery is unknown. At some time, a person made a written list of these graves and speculated that they are in the southwest corner of the cemetery (far left corner from the main/east gate). | |
Links |
| This website: Volunteer work in the Empress Cemetery Empress Cemetery History Obscure locations in the area around Empress Cemetery Concrete Headstones Contact Bruce |
Elsewhere: Empress Cemetery on FacebookEmpress Cemetery on the Village of Empress website. |
| Empress Cemetery on the Find a Grave® website The Empress Express was a newspaper that was published in Empress between 1913-1936. Find Birth, Marriage and Death Records: Alberta, Saskatchewan, British Columbia. Search historical Canada Census. Search the Canadian Geographical Names Database (CGNDB) |
Directions
| 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: |
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| GPS Coordinates: 50.922367, -109.981017 | |
|---|---|
| SE¼ of 01-04-23-29-W3 | |
| Google Maps Android Phone |
Apple Maps iPhone link |
| what3words (///escaped.amid.custody) |
OpenStreetMap |
Bruce A. Johnson - Empress, Alberta, Canada
0306