Michelle Angelique Stein — When the Geni software calculates relationships, it takes the shortest route. The shortest route is not always the most direct. And when you are looking at early historical profiles, especially, there can be a great many "short" routes.
In general, the relationship function is useful, but in specific, it can be confusing. The best thing to do is not to focus on the relationship bar, but to check the relationship lines. Click on the arrow to the right of the relationship, and the line will appear. You can follow it down and see if it makes sense.
If you look at your relationship to James, and your relationship to Walter, you will see that Geni is following two different lines down. The reason that the line to Walter is through his mother, rather than through your direct ancestor his son James, is that it’s a shorter line than going through James.
