No patent shall be issued for any lands belonging to the state except upon the certificate of the person or officer specially charged with the custody of the same, setting forth the appraised value per acre if otherwise required by law to be so appraised, name of the person to whom sold, date of sale, price per acre, amount paid, name of person making final payment, and of person who is entitled to the patent, and, if thus entitled by assignment from the original purchaser, setting forth fully such assignment, which certificate shall be filed and preserved in the land office. In any case where the certificate of sale of lands, or the assignment or assignments, have been lost or destroyed, and cannot be produced, satisfactory proof by affidavit of the existence and ownership of such certificate, assignment or assignments thereof, by two reputable citizens of the county wherein the land is situated, and satisfactory proof by affidavit of the loss or destruction of such certificate, assignment or assignments thereof, by the person who is entitled to the patent, shall be attached to the certificate of the person or officer mentioned above; and, when so proven, the patent shall issue as hereinbefore provided, but without filing or preserving such certificate, assignment or assignments in the land office.