Whenever I turn over some soil, I know that that same soil was turned by my father, my grandfather and my great grandfather. I can't help but feel a connection and an obligation.
Not much soil turning around here, but when I pick up a rock and put it back on a stone wall I can't help but think someone did the same thing 150-175 years ago. My next thought is the poor devils had a tough life. I don't need a blood relationship to feel that.
As far as the land goes, it doesn't matter to me exactly who that someone was, or that I'll never know much about them other than we each held the same rock. We were both exercising an obligation to the land at the time. Whoever that someone was, they or their descendants almost certainly abandoned this land and headed for greener pastures.
That would be a broken thread in the family-to-land heritage. It wouldn't have made much sense for them to stay here living in poverty just to keep that thread unbroken. This land is part of their heritage or history, but I would argue that a greater part of their history is that they moved on, started over, seeking to improve their lives. One of them could well be your great grandfather who turned the soil before you.
What would be interesting to me is if someone back then, living on this land, kept a journal of their activities here. Perhaps someone did, but it would be a very rare find for a given piece of land under the circumstances described above. What they did is more interesting than who they were, we sort of are what we do.
What about people like myself who have never lived where their recent ancestors lived? My family goes back to Colonial times, but we are not farmers--at least not in recent history. I don't think that means we have no family heritage. Do I need to go buy my grandfather's house on Utah St. on Toledo's east side to have a heritage? I sure hope not.