Question: I am trying to determine if my ancestor Anthony Stoddard (d. 1686) is buried at Central Burying Ground in Boston. Can you offer any suggestions?
Answer: The Central Burying Ground in Boston was laid out in 1756 on what is now Boylston and Tremont Streets. I would suspect that Anthony would more likely have been buried at Granary Cemetery, Kings Chapel Cemetery or Copps Hill Burying Ground. According to the published volume by Robert Dunkle and Ann S. Lainhart, Inscriptions and Records of the Old Cemeteries of Boston (Boston, NEHGS, 1999) there is no reference to a gravestone surviving for him. I note that Find-A-Grave.com lists him buried at Central Burying Ground, however I would strongly believe this is in error. Like many 17th century colonists their graves are unmarked in Boston proper.