If you have ever heard that a county is burned from someone, you might want to reconsider that statement. Sometimes it’s easier for a clerk to tell you that when the truth is otherwise. If a county has been reported burned, perhaps not all the county was destroyed. Local researchers living in the area may be familiar with “workarounds” or even know of records whose existence is not “common knowledge.” Remember that some items may have been published in a newspaper, such as marriage, legal notices.

[Michael John Neill, 11 November 2017]