A Public Dedication Ceremony for the Reburial of Emperor Norton in Colma, Calif., Was Held at the End of June 1934 — But the Burial Itself Was Nearly 3 Months Earlier

A UPI article (“Ghouls Make Carnival in City of Dead”) that ran in the San Francisco Examiner on 18 October 1932 reported that — in connection with San Francisco city government’s mandated “eviction” of cemeteries within city limits — the remains of Emperor Norton recently had been exhumed from the Emperor’s original resting place in the city’s Masonic Cemetery.

By the end of 1932, members of San Francisco’s Pacific–Union Club had publicly declared their intention to ensure that the Emperor had a proper reburial with a dedicated gravesite — rather than see him potentially consigned to a mass grave, as many unclaimed remains were.

When Emperor Norton died in 1880, it was members of the Pacific Club — which in 1889 merged with the Union Club to form the Pacific–Union — who had taken care of the Emperor’s funeral and burial arrangements. No doubt, it was this historical precedent that gave members of the Pacific–Union Club standing with the City to claim responsibility for the Emperor, absent any family member to do so.

Question for another day: Was any effort made to contact Emperor Norton’s family members and give them a say in the Emperor’s reburial? If so, who? And what was the result?

As in 1880, the early 1930s reburial effort of Pacific-Union Club members was a project of individual members — not of the Club as such. In mid June 1934, newspaper stories began to appear revealing that the reburial effort had been formalized via a group of Club members calling itself the Emperor Norton Memorial Association. The mission of the Association was to identify and secure, .i.e., fund, a fitting burial plot and headstone for the Emperor — and to produce a public ceremony dedicating this new memorial site.

The ceremony took place at Woodlawn Memorial Park, in Colma, Calif., on 30 June 1934, capturing headlines around the country on this day and the next few.

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THOSE who are familiar with this part of Emperor Norton’s story most closely associate 30 June 1934 with his reburial, as this is the date when the reburial was solemnized — when dignitaries offered eulogies and speeches; musicians from the Municipal Band and Olympic Club of San Francisco played and sang; and a U.S. Army honor guard fired a 3-gun salute before a gathering of some 200 people.

But, 30 June 1934 is not when the reburial itself took place.

Here are two scenes from the ceremony:

As one can see, there is not a freshly dug grave, as there often is at a graveside burial service that immediately follows a funeral — and as there was when Emperor Norton originally was buried in the Masonic Cemetery in 1880.

Rather, the area in front of the headstone is filled in, leveled, turfed, healed, and groomed — indicating that the formal act of burial took place at least some weeks earlier.

In 1997, Joel Gazis–Sax published to his own early digital archive of “Nortoniana” a biographical essay titled “The Madness of Joshua Norton.” According to the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine, Gazis–Sax had added the following Woodlawn interment record for Emperor Norton as a supplement to the essay by October 1999. Given that Gazis–Sax credits the image “Courtesy Woodlawn Memorial Park,” it stands to reason that this is the record Woodlawn had on file in the 1990s.

**Interment record for Emperor Norton at Woodlawn Memorial Park, Colma, Calif.** This appears to be the card that was in file at Woodlawn in the 1990s. Source: Joel Gazis–Sax

Note the date of interment: April 2, 1934. We’ll return to this.

To translate: The undertaker, “M.C. Ass’n.,” is the Masonic Cemetery Association, This was the owner of the Masonic Cemetery, in San Francisco, when Emperor Norton was buried there in 1880 — and also was the original owner of Woodlawn Memorial Park, Woodlawn having been established as the “new Masonic cemetery” to replace the old one.

It’s amusing to see the primary name “NORTON, EMPEROR” with an asterisked “AKA” referring to “JOSHUA A. NORTON” as the “Legal Owner” of the plot. The presentation leaves it open to interpretation as to whether “Emperor Norton” is primary, with “Joshua A. Norton” relegated to an aka — or the other way around!

Assuming that much of this information was provided by the Emperor Norton Memorial Association in 1934, there are a couple of odd disconnects.

For starters: The officers and members of the Association had deep ties to the California Historical Society and the Society of California Pioneers. Were they really not able to say with confidence that Emperor Norton’s “Place of Death” was San Francisco?!!

Also: The recorded age, “65,” harbors echos of the San Francisco Chronicle’s 11 January 1880 report of the text, “Aged About 65” — based on the speculative guess of Emperor Norton’s landlady Eva Hutchinson — that featured on a small silver plate mounted to the Emperor’s casket. But, the Association produced a headstone with the dates “1819–1880,” which — leaving aside the inaccurate birth year — the correct year is 1818 — would have had the Emperor being 61 at the oldest.

All of this suggests that the Emperor Norton Memorial Association did not have all its biographical ducks in a row.

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IN JANUARY, hoping primarily to confirm the accuracy of Emperor Norton’s reburial date, I contacted Hector Gonzalez, the longtime general manager at Woodlawn Memorial Park.

Hector shared with me the current interment record at Woodlawn:

**Interment record for Emperor Norton at Woodlawn Memorial Park, Colma, Calif.** This is the card that was on file at Woodlawn in January 2025. Source: Woodlawn

The information is essentially the same, with one main exception: The earlier record’s “Age” blanks of “Years,” “Months,” and “Days” have been replaced by single “Date of Birth” blank — which has been left empty.

Once again, we see that…

Emperor Norton’s remains were reburied 91 years ago today — on 2 April 1934.

Another question for another day: Did anyone other than Woodlawn staff witness this reburial? Anyone from the Emperor Norton Memorial Association? Others? Who?

Responding to Hector in January, I wrote:

Joshua Norton's being listed as the "legal owner" suggests that his posthumous ownership of the plot was a final gift and dignity that the Emperor Norton Memorial Association extended to him in 1934.

Perhaps this also is how his original burial in the Masonic Cemetery, SF, was set up in 1880?

Either way: A striking gesture.

Alas, there is a flip side to this.

The Emperor Norton Memorial Association understood its purpose to be targeted and temporary. The Association did not see itself as exercising any long-term oversight of the Emperor’s grave — or, apparently, as providing for any other group to do that.

Woodlawn has done an honorable job of maintaining Emperor Norton’s gravesite — including a project to restore the headstone in 2021.

But, on reflection, it occurs to me that the 1934 Association’s approach could be seen as a kind of abdication with potentially ill effects.

Indeed, one upshot of the Association’s limited mission has been to create a stewardship vacuum that, in recent decades, has left the Emperor’s grave vulnerable to “gatekeeper” claims by outside groups who hold events at the grave once a year and who use Emperor Norton for branding purposes — but whose core, day-to-day missions are not to do with the Emperor.

In 2016, I met and corresponded with two different Woodlawn staffers, proposing to them a headstone restoration project very similar to the one Woodlawn eventually undertook itself five years later, in 2021. At the time, both staffers told me that I would need to get clearance from one of the outside pilgrimage groups. When I asked to know what — with respect to the headstone — this group’s legal or administrative status was that gave it such oversight powers, I didn’t get an answer.

Had Woodlawn effectively outsourced the general care and maintenance of Emperor Norton’s headstone to this group, empowering the group to determine what could be done for the stone — and by whom?

If so, did Woodlawn’s 2021 restoration of the headstone reflect a decision by Woodlawn to reassume full responsibility for the stone?

Whichever is the case, it seems to me that all would do well to be reminded that — according to Woodlawn Memorial Park — there is only one “Legal Owner” of Emperor Norton’s grave: “Joshua A. Norton.”

Perhaps it is time for a new Emperor Norton Memorial Association in this generation: a group whose sole mission is to see that Emperor Norton’s headstone and gravesite are preserved and cared for at a higher level — and with more regular, frequent attention — than Woodlawn may be able to guarantee.

Prior to the 2021 restoration, the gold-leafed engraving on the headstone was almost completely faded and had not seen fresh gold of any kind for at least 30 years. Traditional gold leaf that is hand-laid using historical artisanal methods can last for two decades or more. I’d be surprised if Woodlawn went to that trouble and expense. If — as seems more likely — Woodlawn re-lined the engraving using “gold leaf” paint, the engraving will be fading again within a few years.

A project such as I envision here could be mostly volunteer and probably could operate on a budget of $2,000–$3,000 per year — plus a fund providing for the full restoration of the headstone, including traditional gold-leafing of the engraving, once every couple of decades.

Food for thought.

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A Public Dedication Ceremony for the Reburial of Emperor Norton in Colma, Calif., Was Held at the End of June 1934 — But the Burial Itself Was Nearly 3 Months Earlier