Lid lifted on town traders who became New World pioneers

The papers and photographs, which were handed in anonymously, reveal the hidden history of the Uttley family, who ran various small businesses in Rotherham in the late 19th and 20th centuries.

One member of the family, Isaac, who was born at Greasbrough in 1847, made his way to Liverpool after marrying his wife Martha where they boarded the Nemesis, arriving at New York on April 25 1870.

In best pioneering tradition, they settled on the mid-western plains of Illinois, where their two children John and Emma were born.

But the papers show that the family was back in England by 1885 and Isaac was running the Carter's Rest beerhouse in College Road, with a sideline as a grocer.

Archivist Celia Parker said it was not known why the Uttleys returned to Rotherham, but added: "These are, on the face of it, unremarkable items left by unremarkable people. However, it's possible to tease some information from every single document, even an empty envelope from the US suggesting the family kept some links with their former home."