In genealogy, there are negative results and there is negative evidence. Negative results are when we search for someone in a record and fail to find them. Not finding a James Rampley in the Pike County, Illinois, 1870 census or in any land deeds in that county is a negative result. James was not found.
Negative evidence is when the failure of someone to appear in a record tell us something about that person. Family history indicated that Jurgen Goldenstein was legally married to a woman named Jean upon his death in California in 1972. Jean was not named in Jurgen’s probate file as an heir. The failure of the probate case to list Jean as an heir suggests that she was not his wife at the time of his death. It’s negative evidence because we conclude Jean was not his wife but there is no statement to that effect in the record being used.
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