| Hartwell Carver | |
| Birth Date: | July 19, 1789 |
| Death Date: | April 16, 1875 |
| Resting Place: | Mount Hope Cemetery, Rochester, New York |
| Known For: | Advocate for Pacific Railroad |
| Occupation: | Doctor, businessman |
Dr. Hartwell Carver (July 19 1789 – April 16, 1875) was an American medical doctor, businessman, and an early promoter of what would become the Transcontinental Railroad.
Carver's push for a railroad to connect both coasts of the United States began in 1832 with a proposal that was dismissed by Congress. Over the next several years, Carver wrote a series of articles in the New York Courier and Enquirer about the subject.[1] He participated in the hammering of the Golden Spike that officially joined the Central Pacific and Union Pacific railroads on May 10, 1869 at Promontory, Utah.[2]
His historic home in Pittsford sold in 2018 for $1,179,000.[3]
Carver was interred at Mount Hope Cemetery in Rochester, New York under a 50-foot (15.24 m) monument erected by the Union Pacific Railroad. The monument is the second tallest in the cemetery.[4] The inscription reads:
Carver was erroneously described on the monument at his grave, as well as by local histories, as the great-grandson of John Carver, who came over on the Mayflower and was the first governor of Plymouth Colony,[5] while this purported ancestor actually had no descendants.[6]