Strange matches on Gedmatch

[Gwydion]

I came across two strange matches on Gedmatch, one on my father's side and one on my mother's, and was hoping to get some input from more experienced members.

First my father has Dutch ancestry albeit it should be quite minor (10% maximum is what I thought) and also more distant on my known tree, i.e. the 18th century and beyond. In any case he matches someone of 100% Dutch ancestry from the modern Netherlands at 24.2 cM, which Gedmatch estimates should have a MRCA at 4.6 generations ago. Do you think this means I have more Dutch ancestry or more recent Dutch ancestry than I was previously aware of? Seems a bit high of a match for mostly having distant Dutch lines, especially when he has matches with people who share known 2nd-great grandparents with him at lower cM.

Second my mother has a 9.3 cM match with a person of Laz ancestry from modern Turkey. My mother is entirely German and Irish, though I suspect she may have an unknown connection with Volga Germans, Bessarabia Germans, Black Sea Germans, and Germans in the Caucasus. The Germans of the Caucasus is the only thing I can think that would connect us to a Laz, but do you think this means that my mother actually has German ancestry from the Caucasus or rather shares a common ancestor with a German who went to the Caucasus while her German ancestor remained home?

[Lucas]

I came across two strange matches on Gedmatch, one on my father's side and one on my mother's, and was hoping to get some input from more experienced members.

First my father has Dutch ancestry albeit it should be quite minor (10% maximum is what I thought) and also more distant on my known tree, i.e. the 18th century and beyond. In any case he matches someone of 100% Dutch ancestry from the modern Netherlands at 24.2 cM, which Gedmatch estimates should have a MRCA at 4.6 generations ago. Do you think this means I have more Dutch ancestry or more recent Dutch ancestry than I was previously aware of? Seems a bit high of a match for mostly having distant Dutch lines, especially when he has matches with people who share known 2nd-great grandparents with him at lower cM.

Second my mother has a 9.3 cM match with a person of Laz ancestry from modern Turkey. My mother is entirely German and Irish, though I suspect she may have an unknown connection with Volga Germans, Bessarabia Germans, Black Sea Germans, and Germans in the Caucasus. The Germans of the Caucasus is the only thing I can think that would connect us to a Laz, but do you think this means that my mother actually has German ancestry from the Caucasus or rather shares a common ancestor with a German who went to the Caucasus while her German ancestor remained home?

I look more on cM number than generation. I have plemty 4.5 or 4.7 generations matches which are certainly not true becasue there are from many countries and I have Polish ancestry.

[Gwydion]

I look more on cM number than generation. I have plemty 4.5 or 4.7 generations matches which are certainly not true becasue there are from many countries and I have Polish ancestry.

True I didn't mean to imply that I have a Dutch ancestor from 4.6 generations ago so much as the curious nature of 24.2 cM for someone with only minor and more distant Dutch lines, albeit frequent (colonial ancestry from New York/New Jersey where almost every line in my tree has Dutch ancestry if you go back far enough.) I am just suspicious that I might have yet more Dutch ancestry or more recent ancestry on some of the lines I can't trace beyond the 1830s, etc. with a number that seems relatively high for a match with someone of 100% Dutch descent.

[Ljubic]

True I didn't mean to imply that I have a Dutch ancestor from 4.6 generations ago so much as the curious nature of 24.2 cM for someone with only minor and more distant Dutch lines, albeit frequent (colonial ancestry from New York/New Jersey where almost every line in my tree has Dutch ancestry if you go back far enough.) I am just suspicious that I might have yet more Dutch ancestry or more recent ancestry on some of the lines I can't trace beyond the 1830s, etc. with a number that seems relatively high for a match with someone of 100% Dutch descent.

Imagine how many children your great-grandfathers had and how many of their sons did. A few are enough to mix with some foreigners which could have been dutch in your case and then you will automatically have some of their ancestors great-great sons as a match. Not even matches with above 1% SNPs shared have to be representative of your ancestry.