I am not sure if this will help anyone...but from what I understand, at least here in Missouri, a large portion, if not all, deeds of trust (mortgages) are being assigned within the document itselt to MERS - Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems.  They have a website, and if I remember correctly - information on all their assignments can be obtained if you pay a fee - I don't remember how the fee worked.  I wasn't too interested 'cause I normally find assignments by legal description indexing - but closers contact MERS all the time to get assignment information.  I got the impression that MERS was bigger than just Missouri.  Probably useless informaton....but, hey, you never know......

Have a good day............
Ellen