The mystery of the whereabouts of a man who left Bradford in 1907 seems to have been cleared up by an American relative.

On July 24, 1982, the T&A ran a story saying Marie Hight, from Arkansas, in the USA, had written to the Anglican Church in Bradford hoping to discover the whereabouts of Bradford-born Victor Staincliss, who had emigrated to Canada in 1914.

The name, however, was incorrect. Nearly 30 years later we are able to clear up the mystery thanks to Paul Stancliffe of Farsley, the great-nephew of the mystery man.

His actual name was Victor Stancliffe. He was born in Cutler Heights Lane, Bradford, in 1883, sailed to Canada 24 years later, where he stayed for six months, and from there went to the United States.

He returned home briefly in July 1913 following the death of his father, but returned to America in August 1914 and did not return.

Attempts to locate him were made difficult because he changed his name to Staincliff, a fact unearthed by his grandson Richard Stoltze, who lives in Arkansas and has a half-brother, Robert Garvin. Paul Stancliffe is a cousin.

Their mother was Olive Lucille Stoltz (nee Staincliff), Victor’s daughter, one of two girls born to Victor and his wife Elizabeth Amos, who died in September 1945, after 29 years of marriage.

Victor, who spent most of his life in Cleveland, Ohio, died in Mountain View, Arkansas, in September 1958, during a visit to his eldest daughter Olive.

Paul Stancliffe told us: “I began researching my family history in 1995 and although I knew of Victor, he remained a mystery to me until 2006, when a cousin who lives in British Columbia, Canada, found him in a 1930 US Federal census and Robert e-mailed the details to me. In very quick time we verified that we were all related.

“In September 2007, I had the opportunity to visit Richard in Arkansas, and Victor’s grave.

“Before he died he had been living with his daughter Estelle and her husband in Cleveland.

“Marie Hight was a friend of Victor’s wife Olive.”

During his years in the United States, Victor worked as a pattern maker in an electrical shop, a shipping clerk in New York and a property manager in real estate, Cleveland, Ohio.