This is another example of research previously left by the wayside. I decided to finish it just in time for Etta's 145th birthday today. She led a very interesting life marrying an heir who left her one of the richest women in the United States. She spent 15 years as a widow before marrying a titled but financially strapped fortune-hunter. Was Guido only interested in her money? -- Grace Cordial
Henrietta Guerard "Etta" Pollitzer, daughter of Henry C. Pollitzer and Mary Elliott Guerard, was born in Bluffton on January 4, 1881. Known as a local beauty, she met Edward V. Hartford, an heir to the A & P grocery fortune, on a steamer trip. They married in Bluffton on 27 June 1901.
It is interesting that the Palmetto Post's coverage of the wedding shown above was "imagined" as indicated in the clipping from its 27 June 1901 issue. The wedding was held in the home of the bride's parents. The Savannah Morning News of 30 June 1901 wrote of the nuptials:
Edward's interest was in motor cars. He made his own fortune through his perfection of shock absorbers and as founder and President of the Hartford Suspension Company. He would also serve as Vice President and Secretary of the A & P Company. Edward died in 1922 leaving Etta at age 41 as one of the wealthiest women in the United States with an estate estimated at $200,000,000.
Their marriage produced two children: Marie Josephine Hartford, 1903-1992 who married multiple times and as did her brother George Huntington Hartford, III, 1911-2008 (nicknamed "Hunt"), a businessman, stage and film producer, and art collector. You can read more about these high society siblings on "The New York Social Diary" blog by Charles J. Burns.
Etta married her second husband, Prince Guido Pignatelli di Montecalvo of Rome, Italy in St. Vincent's Church in Los Angeles in 1937. Having secured a Reno divorce from Constance Wilcox that very day, the prince was 20 years younger than his bride, who was 2 years older than his mother, and the groom was only 2 years older than his bride's daughter, JoJo. The New York Times covered the Hartford-Pignatelli wedding:
Etta entertained the socially prominent often at her Wando Plantation near Charleston. The plantation house, built in 1931, burned down on Sept. 2, 1942. Time Magazine estimated the loss at $400,000, about $8 million in 2026 dollars. The Pignatellis did not rebuild, opting instead to sell the property.
During World War II Princess Pignatelli bought almost $1 million worth of war bonds (almost $20 million in 2026 dollars). She was involved in supporting the Charleston Museum and the Dock Street Theater during her lifetime and made bequests to both institutions upon her death. She died at her home in Wycoff, New Jersey on June 3, 1948. She is buried in Charleston's Magnolia Cemetery.
Don Schueler wrote "Bluffton SC's Gilded Age Princess" about Etta on his Gilded Greats website and Gilded Greats podcast. Each is a part of his "Southern Gilded" blog series of short vignettes about some of this area's more colorful characters.
Come to the BDC Research Room to review the content of our PIGNATELLI, HENRIETTA GUERARD POLLITZER HARTFORD, 1881-1948; POLLITZER FAMILY; and GUERARD FAMILY vertical files. We have obituaries for Etta's parents in our Obituary card files. For assured service, please make an appointment: bdc@bcgov.net; 843-255-6468.
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