Bulk of notes missing after deleting a very few notes

Version - joplin-v1.4.11 on a T-Mobile Oneplus 8t running Android 11.

I did a search of files with (1) in the title as duplicates. I deleted known files that I created with that file ending. After deleting these files, there were only 16 files in "all notes" and nothing under "Notebooks". I reviewed my Dropbox Joplin folder and there were dozens of *.md files still in it. I backed up those files and reinstalled the program. After syncing, I hrt the same 16 notes in the same fashion as before and the same Notebook section with nothing in it except "Welcome
(Mobile). How can I reclaim my notes again and is this a bug? My phone is brand new.