Tracing Legacy: From Sandwiches to Surrender—My Surprising Ties to History

Take John Montague, the 18th-century earl famously credited with inventing the sandwich. Yes, that sandwich. A snack born out of convenience that’s now a global staple—pretty cool dinner-party trivia, right? But it doesn’t stop there. One of my other relatives, Admiral George Montague of the Royal Navy, played a far more dramatic role in world history. It’s also fun (and a little wild) to realize that he was the one tasked with resupplying General Cornwallis at Yorktown during the American Revolution. And here’s the twist: he failed—or maybe, depending on how you look at it, he succeeded perfectly. That failure to deliver supplies forced Cornwallis to surrender, leading directly to America winning its independence. So technically, my ancestor helped lose the war… and helped win a country.

Beyond that, I’m connected to President Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Supreme Allied Commander in World War II who later became president, and to Gerald Ford, who guided the U.S. through some of its most uncertain times. There’s also William Bradford, the first governor of the Plymouth Colony, one of the true founding figures of American self-governance.

It’s neat to note that Eisenhower is believed to be a cousin—2nd, 3rd, or 4th, I’m not exactly certain—but the connection is real enough that my great-grandmother actually received a personal letter from him. According to my grandmother, that letter still exists in the family archives—a small, powerful piece of history to still have.

While Ford and Eisenhower are cousins by lineage, my connection to William Bradford—first governor of Plymouth Colony—is more direct. Bradford is a straight-line ancestor in my family tree, a foundational figure whose bloodline runs clearly and unmistakably through mine. There’s something especially striking about having both cousins who shaped modern leadership and a direct forebear who helped lay the very first stones of American governance.

And just to bring it all full circle, it’s kind of poetic that two U.S. Navy aircraft carriers often stationed in the Mediterranean—USS Dwight D. Eisenhower and USS Gerald R. Ford—now carry those presidential names across the seas. It’s a fun reminder that history isn’t just something you read about—it’s something you can unexpectedly be part of.

P.S. Oh—and I almost forgot (but of course I didn’t). I’m also directly related to Wallis Simpson, the woman who famously inspired King Edward VIII to abdicate the British throne—all for love. The only woman in modern history to sway a king off the crown and into exile? Now that’s some historical gravity. She must have been quite the force—complicated, controversial, and unforgettable. Honestly, not a bad footnote to a family tree!

Here’s kind of a funny TikTok of me talking about it all @thejoshworldme

@thejoshworldme READ ALONG WITH JOSH, HOW WE WON THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION #fyp #tiktok #american #america #history ♬ Last Hope (Over Slowed + Reverb) – Steve Ralph