Only four censuses have been found for the village of Yagodnaya Polyana. These are November 1798, October 1834, August 1850, and December 1857/ January 1858. Additionally, the original immigration list of 1767 for Yagoda has been published in numerous locations such as Richard Scheuerman's Pilgrims on the Earth. Censuses were take in 1769, 1775, 1788, and 1816 but have not been located for Yagodnaya Polyana.

Information included in the census was:
Household number, name, age, age at previous census, relationship to head of household. Men and the women were placed in seperate columns on the census records.Often many generations lived in one household so that makes the relationships easier follow. In addition if a male moved to a different household between censuses, it often indicated the household number that he came from. Women on the other hand, usually went to live at the home of their husband. Some censuses did not include their maiden name. Even if their maiden name was included, it was sometimes impossible to determine who her parents were.

How to obtain census record extracts:
Fortunately, over the past few years census record extracts from Russia have become easier to obtain. The complete translated 1798 census of Yagodnaya Polyana can be purchased from American Historical Society of Germans from Russia (AHSGR). AHSGR also has a microfilm copy of the 1834 census of Yagoda which can be extracted and translated for a surname. Unfortunately the microfilm is out of focus and very difficult to work with so some information could be lost. A very simple way to obtain extracted and translated census records is to contact the Russian genealogist, Dr. Igor Pleve. Igor of course, is fluent in Russian, German and English. He can be reached by e-mail at igor@pleve.saratov.su. He is very reliable and accurate but also very slow. Keep in mind, the facilites (no copy machines, leaky roofs, sometimes no heat) and records (faded, worn, not indexed) are very poor but he does the best he can with what he has. Please be very polite, and patient if you contact him. The cost per surname per census usually runs about $40 but can increase if there are may names.

All of the Russian census information of Weitzes in Yagoda has been included in the information provided in the lineage section, descendants of Johannes Weitz.