CourthouseDisastors

Court House Disastors

Below is a list of Florida Counties and the years the Courthouses were subjected to a disaster. This does NOT mean that ALL RECORDS were lost. Often, folks took their documents again in for recording after a disaster and later deeds will contain long chains of title, etc.
· Baker County - courthouse, constructed in 1888, was lost to fire.
· Bradford County - The original Lake Butler courthouse was burned in 1865, reportedly to destroy a murder indictment along with all other county records. A second courthouse burned in 1875,
· Brevard County - Record Loss, unknown causes
· Calhoun County - Record Loss, unknown causes
· Clay County - Court was held in McRae House which burned in 1872 and with it most of the county's judicial records.
· Columbia County - Numerous prior courthouses, most if not all constructed from logs, fell victim to arsonists in 1848, 1860, 1867, and 1874. Most early records were destroyed.
· Dade County - Record Loss (Court)
· Duval County - was burned during the Civil War, burned in 1901. Extent of reocrd loss unknown.
· Franklin County - destroyed by fire in 1887
· Gadsden County - burned in 1849, supposedly an act of arson by a Forbes family slave.
· Hamilton County - may have been destroyed by a tornado prior to 1836. Courthouse was destroyed by fire in 1929 and rebuilt in 1932.
· Hernando County - destroyed by fire in 1877
· Hillsborough County -
· Holmes County - Courthouse at Cerro Gordo also burned at least once in the 1870's. Westville Courthouse burned in 1902, and most early county records perished with it.
· Jackson County - courthouse was destroyed by fire on November 30, 1848. All records were destroyed
· Lafayette County - courthouse caught fire on New Year's Eve, 1892, apparently the result of a drunken prank.
· Madison County - The first Madison courthouse burned in 1876 and was replaced by one built in 1880 of brick. This building burned as well, in 1912, and was replaced in 1913 by the present courthouse
· Orange County - The first Orange County Courthouse, a two-story hewn-log affair, was burned in 1868. Most of the books and records were destroyed.
· Santa Rosa County - Record Loss (Marriage & Probate)
· Wakulla County - Record Loss (Marriage & Probate)
· Walton County - Record Loss (Marriage & Probate)
· Washington County - Record Loss

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