Recently, I asked about old tax records for our county at the treasurer's office. The clerk said, "Oh! All of those burnt in the courthouse fire." I asked, "When did our county courthouse have a fire?" The clerk replied, "I really don't know. That is just what I was told when I came to work here a few years ago." And so the story is repeated, often times without any evidence of it being true.
There have been some courthouses in Indiana that have had fires, which did destroy some records. However, this excuse has often been used when the person making the statement has no knowledge about older records, or to keep from having to go to the effort of making a search.
In Indiana Source Book, Volume 1, brief descriptions of the records that have been lost or preserved for counties which really have experienced courthouse fires are given. Below is a very brief summary of these counties, including the year of the fire, and what records were really destroyed or preserved.
| COUNTY | DATE OF FIRE | STATUS OF PRIOR RECORDS |
| Boone | Oct. 1856 | Practically all lost |
| Brown | -- | All lost, except some clerk's files |
| Clay | Nov. 1851 | All lost except Recorder's records |
| Daviess | 1879 | Marriage records and index to probate and deed records were not destroyed |
| Dearborn | Mar. 1826 | Most records lost--some early marriage and will records exist |
| DeKalb | 1913 | Probate records before 1860 were the worst loss |
| Dubois | Aug. 1839 | All destroyed, except the WPA found 10 boxes of deeds from 1812 |
| Franklin | Feb. 1852 | No records lost |
| Gibson | 1935 | No records harmed |
| Hancock | Dec. 1940 | No records harmed |
| Henry | Feb. 1864 | Clerk, recorded, auditor and treasurer's records were saved |
| Jackson | ?1872? and ?1881? | No records lost |
| Jasper | 1864 | Clerk's records were lost--deeds and deed indexes escaped damage |
| Johnson | May 1849 and Dec. 1874 | Records that survived: marriages from 1830, "complete" court records from 1823; recorder's entry book from 1822 and deeds and deed indexes from 1824 |
| Knox | Jan. 1814 | Records that survived: marriages from 1807; order book from 1811; minutes book 1816-1818; orphan's court minutes 1796-1805; minutes of common pleas court 1790-1810; general indexes to administrations from 1795-1886; deeds from 1814 and wills from 1806 |
| Madison | Dec. 1880 | Lost: marriage, circuit court and common pleas
court records Saved: wills from 1879, deeds from 1825, and general index to deeds from 1829 |
| Martin | Apr. 1876 | Saved: all records of genealogical interest |
| Miami | Mar. 1843 | All records destroyed--deeds from 1828 survived |
| Morgan | Mar. 1876 | Some records destroyed. Saved: marriage and deed records from 1822, probate order books 1822-1836 |
| Noble | 1843 and 1859 | Most of clerk's records were lost. Saved: marriages from 1859, deeds and deed indexes from 1836 |
| Parke | Oct. 1833 | Saved: marriages from 1829; probate, deed and deed indexes from 1833 |
| Porter | Dec. 1934 | All records saved |
| Spencer | Sept. 1833 | Saved: marriage and deed records |
| Sullivan | Feb. 1850 | All records destroyed except wills from 1841 |
| Tipton | 1857 | Saved: records of genealogical interest |
| Union | Feb. 1903 | Water damage to records only |
| Vermillion | Jan. 1844 | All records saved |
| Wabash | Apr. 1870 | Saved: treasurer's, auditor's, recorder's and clerk's records. |