Phyllis Kramer wrote
Mady Land said her family came >from Hrubieszow and Lublin Poland. Other
records showed Ratno. "According to Jewishgen's Communities Database,the most
likely town is Ratno, Ukraine 32 miles NNW of Kovel.
This seems far >from both
snip...

Dear Phyllis,

I understand that Mady is anticipating visit to her ancestral shtetls next
year, and it appears that you may be (in a good faith) shlepping here to a
wrong places by suggesting to visit localities that were not known as
populated by our people.
Hrubieszow although sitting in the eastern edge of the Lublin Province, is
separated >from the Wolhyn Province, as all other shtetls in this region, by
the Bug River, has strong cultural and family relations with Wolhyn.
Till 1951, a few years after the end WWI, Poland and USSR have been engaged
in their borders alignment in this region, obviously Poland lost, and towns
in Wolhyn and Galicia that were anticipated to be assigned to Poland, have
be taken by Soviets, including coal fields and rich agricultural lands.

Town Wlodzimierz [Wolynskyj] currently known as Volodymyr Volynskyy, the
seat of mighty Jewish community of close to six thousands souls was the
central hub of the western Wolhyn. Town is indeed located 32 miles NW >from
Kovel in Wolhyn but this distance make it closer to Poland, 18 miles East

from Hrubieszow, and only 8 East miles >from Ustilug, the eastern outpost of

the Lublin Province (following Bug River curves).

I have located in Jewish Records Indexing -Poland database for year 1888
couple of marriage records registered in Chelm (Lublin) for the groom >from
Kowel and for the bride >from Ratno.
Obviously just a couple of marriages don't make a splash, but not all
records show the origin towns of the newlyweds and I'd like to draw
the similarity between in marriages in Tarnopol Province of Eastern Galicia
region.

Over 1600 records are showing origin of brides or grooms registered in
Tarnopol towns >from the Wolhyn region. And it should be noted that Zbruch
River that separates Tarnopol Province >from Wolhyn Province was also a
national border that separated once Austro-Hungary >from Russia. In case of
the Bug River, it was flowing through Russian Empire territory, and
Hrubieszow and Ratno were both located within the borders of the same
country.

Best Regards,

Alexander Sharon
JGFF Editor