When Mary Jane and I took his culinary tour of India in 1996, Pat managed
to find his grandfather's
house in Agra, and met with the current owner, who showed him the
original deed with his grandfather's name on it!
The other thing — scan all your important papers, like birth certificate, bank info, credit cards,
house deed, car title, insurance policies, passport — all the things that may be hard (or even just annoying)
to replace — then store the
originals in a safe deposit box.