[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Beginning in Volhynia

[Becca Rowley]

I'm new to this list, and I subscribed after find some old posts about
people in Volhynia and that part of the world.

So - I have some problems, and I was wondering if anyone could help me. I'm
not even sure if I'm in the right place of Europe with this list (I need to
brush up on my European geography).
My great grandmother is Julianna Karras (Karas, maybe other spellings even).
She was born in Volhynia, and on the gedcom my family has, it says her
spouse Samuel Werner Jr. was born in Rovno, Volhynia. However, there is no
source as to that fact (given) and I have not been able to find him in the
St. Petersburg Archives (My father was raised Lutheran, and Julianna was in
the archives, so I assumed that would be a natural place to search). His
birth year is given as 1879, which is at least mostly true, because ship
records of him immigrating to Canada (from Libau, to Halifax, NS on the SS
Czar) have him listed as 34 years old in 1913, so the date we think is
pretty accurate.
Well, the problem is that I cannot find any other record of him anywhere (as
to birth, marriage to Julianna, etc). It seems unlikely that he would have
been something other than Lutheran, married a Lutheran woman (but either not
in Volhynia, or not as recorded by the Lutheran church) and then raised his
family Lutheran. However, it is possible that he was not born in Volhynia,
and even that he married Julianna somewhere else. The other problem is that
he died before many of his grandchildren were born (my father included) and
all of his children are also deceased. So... unless I can find a relatively
older obscure relative (and my father's family was never very close), I'm at
my wits end as to how to find out about him - and if I can't find out about
him, my hopes of finding out who his parents are are slim.

Anyone who can help me - point me in the right direction, give me tips on
some place to begin (other than the "ask your relatives about their
memories" etc) would be endeared to my heart forever!

Help!
Thanks,
Becca R

-- 
"The gifted never stop seeing the world for the first time... the great ones
are never forgotten..."
                   -Jupiter Sunrise, September Girl