Why is Lineage so important to some people?

[Krottyman]

Whoops, meant to add to the discussion itself as well- a bit long, apologies in advance.

When I was shopping for Kung Fu schools near me I tried to look at the Lineage information of the instructors, sometimes digging up photos to confirm existence of said lineages. I know it's not a guarantee of effectiveness but I still really desire that of a school.

Why?
-Many teachers have left China. I'd imagine a good chunk are in Taiwan, but it still motivates me to find anyone in the States. No doubt they've taught folks abroad. Even if they are no longer alive, or no longer widely teaching, I still see a lot of value in their presence here for cultural reasons.

-I took a Taichi College class without having done any research on the instructor. In retrospect, her forms were great and she was in better shape than me for sure, but Wushu wasn't what I wanted and might have given me wrong ideas about Taichi. Sure enough, I saw the Kung Fu Quest episode on Tai Chi and the training looked nothing alike. It also convinced me that Tai Chi could be used for self defense far more than my teacher did. (I still remember her telling us at our final class before our forms "exam": "Tai Chi is a complete martial art. You have Karate, Jujitsu, Taekwondo, but Tai Chi is complete and can be used very well for self defense. Just be patient." Cause, you know, forms and showing us applications while never letting us practice it = self defense).

But then I hear of guys like Tim Cartmell, David Ross, Stuart Shaw, etc. who have learned from the former.

Call me a a Romanticist/Naive Idiot, I guess. Being Chinese myself I've gotten a touch jealous of their backgrounds (not that being Chinese is insurance against fraud). I mean, I can find a TKD studio everywhere I can find a Starbucks, if only I could find something of a similar ilk for Kung Fu (well, good ones, anyway).

Edits: Sausauge fingers; had to proofread on laptop. Plus a few things added