Final answer:
John White was the man who left Roanoke and returned to find the colony deserted.
Step-by-step explanation:
The man who left Roanoke and then returned to find the colony deserted was John White. John White was the governor of the Roanoke colony in North Carolina. He left the colony in 1587 to get supplies from England and returned in 1590 to find that the settlers had vanished and the only clue left was the word 'Croatoan' carved into a tree.
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