Most of the Jewish censuses which survived today are organized by district with main communities being reported. However many Jews also lived in the nearby villages. Thus the Novogrudok rural census project attempts to enumerate such villages, index the last names of inhabitants and collect other relevant historical information.
There is also additionally question of locality. Early 19th century Belarus was the scene of constant migrations where authorities tried to push local Jews to move from villages into nearby towns. This was done on pretext that Jews cause poverty to peasants by selling alcohol and competing in small businesses. Needless to say with their expulsion, condition of the peasants did not improve.
This particular census is organized by parafia, which were usually larger villages which acted as administrative centers towards the nearby rural areas. There are hundreds of villages recorded mostly with one or two Jewish families each. In some cases names and places while recorded in Russian were clearly based on their Polish pronunciation for example Dvorzhets for Dvorets.
This census lists all family members by name and age. Most families have last names. In some cases professions are indicated as well. Common professions include tavern owner, inn keeper, worker at the mill. Additionally residents were asked for their papers and many have shown a proof of being recorded in other towns. Large number of residents came from Lyakhovichi, Kletsk and Nesvizh in the Slutsk district, Dvorets and Molchad in Slonim district. Others came from communities in Lida or Minsk district or even as far as Wilno. Whether these were new or returning residents is unknown. Ultimately authorities reported that in 1818 there were 1,259 Jewish males and 1,449 females living in the various villages in Novogrudok district. This itself states to vindicate that after some twenty years of forced expulsions at the hands of government officials there were still significant number of Jews residing in villages throughout Novogrudok district.
Map below while not fully complete shows many of the villages mentioned in this census.
Local parafia
centers are shown as green circles while villages are in blue.