Sometimes after records have been destroyed by fire, natural disaster, or other event, local records officials will ask for people to being their copies of actual records back in to be recorded.
That’s especially true with land deeds, which people tend to keep. This book from Boone County, Indiana, indicated that the deeds in this book (and several others) had been “heretofore recorded.”
Obviously not all deeds whose record copy had been destroyed could be re-recorded, but some where. So when you discover that there was actual records loss in a county or location, see if there was an attempt after that loss to recoup what was possible. Even if an attempt was made, remember that such attempts are imperfect. But if you are aware of subsequent property owners (after the records loss) consider looking up their deeds to see if there are any references to previous landowners.
And always make certain that a loss of records truly happened. Sometimes the stories of records loss are complete fiction, exaggerated, or told to researchers to discourage them.
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