When the Courthouse Burned: Researching in Burned Counties
Fires, floods and wars destroyed records in hundreds of counties. These are the substitutes and alternate copies that still survive.
Sooner or later you'll read the dreaded words: "the courthouse burned." Hundreds of American counties lost records to fire, flood or war, especially in the South, where many courthouses were destroyed during the Civil War. But "burned" rarely means "everything is gone." Records were copied, re-recorded, filed elsewhere, or never kept at the courthouse in the first place.
First, find out exactly what was lost
Fires were seldom total. Some record books were stored elsewhere, some were saved, and some series started again immediately afterward. Check:
- The FamilySearch Research Wiki page for the county, which notes record losses
- The FamilySearch catalog, to see which books were microfilmed and the years they cover
- The county clerk, who can tell you what survives
- State resources like the Library of Virginia's list of "lost records localities"
Records that survived elsewhere
Re-recorded deeds
Because land ownership mattered so much, many counties invited residents to bring in their original deeds to be recorded again after a fire. Look for re-recording books, often with the original date preserved.
State-level copies
- Land grants and patents from the state land office, or federal patents from the BLM
- Tax lists sent to the state capital. See Tax Lists.
- State court records, including appeals, which often summarize the original county case and its documents
- Legislative petitions, which residents used for divorces, name changes and claims
Federal records
Federal records were never at the county courthouse: census, military service and pension files, federal land records, and passport and naturalization records filed in federal courts. A Revolutionary War pension file can rebuild a family that county records no longer show.
Neighboring and parent counties
People did business wherever it was convenient. Check:
- The parent county the burned county was formed from, for earlier records
- Neighboring counties, where families recorded deeds, married or probated estates when they owned land across the line
- Counties the family moved to, where they may have recorded documents about property left behind
Private and church records
- Church registers and minutes (see Church Records)
- Family Bibles, letters and account books, often in state archives and university manuscript collections
- Newspapers (see Getting More from Old Newspapers)
- Business records, such as store ledgers and mill accounts
Pending cases and loose papers
After a fire, courts sometimes recreated records for cases that were still active, by asking the parties to submit copies. Estates in the middle of probate may have been re-filed. Ask the clerk about any "restored" or "reconstructed" records.