I've followed the lines

The ancestry research that began much more in earnest when my father died has led me to a march of fathers and mothers on both sides. It's confirmed now. I am mostly Irish. There's Finney (one side), Phinney (other side), Alley, McGee, McCann, McKenna, McKinna, Lancey, (Clancey) Morey, Mawle, Hugh, Brown, Daley, Coleman and a couple of others, and there's more farther back. It's amazing that people can not know where they come from, or just weren't interested. Yes, there's English, and a bit of Scots, and Native American.
It makes me wonder, though, how an entire rich heritage can just be dropped. I know the answer. It's the story of the immigrant, trying to survive. Hunger is deadly. Hunger in your children's faces is devastating. You change the spelling of your name, drop the accent, blend in. You get work, feed your family, become an American. Maybe you like it, bearing a new pride to replace the old.
But blood is powerful. Blood sings. It calls you, shapes you, molds your attitudes, your likes, dislikes, even your humor. It whispers in your ear, pulls you in a direction, and then shouts "See this!"
I've learned about them. They were factory works, shop-keepers, travelers, cabinet makers, fishermen, housewives, nurses, coopers, farmers (many) with big families. There were a few writers, actors, horsemen, and one historically famous admiral. The voices of the past. They are in me, all of them blended together.
I have, all my life been answering a call from them.
Their voices echo through time, leading me on a long trail to people who held fragments of the puzzle. It's still not a complete picture. The other bits are 3,000 miles away. It seems like an obsession sometimes, and at other times it's a hobby. It's hard to talk about. Most people wouldn't be interested, except the family on both sides who have done the research. But I'm not alone in this. Looking at the popularity genealogy websites it seems many Americans seem to be asking "Where did I come from?" and "Where is home?"