He first arrived in the United States during the summer of 1876 to compete in a regatta in Philadelphia while he was the president of the Cambridge University Boat Club.

[1] He was one of eight children, all of whom grew up on the yacht Sibilla, which his British father, James Close, sailed on the Mediterranean and Adriatic Seas.

[3] Following Ferdinand II's death in 1859, James retired and subsequently died of a heart attack in 1865 at the family home in Antibes, France.

[8] Close first arrived in the United States in 1876 when he was the president of the Cambridge University Boat Club that was taking part in the Centennial Regatta in Philadelphia during the summer.

The journey to West Virginia was Close's first exploration of the United States countryside and he attempted to learn what he could about the land.

[9] After touring Washington, D.C. and Philadelphia with his brother for leisure, they then proceeded to St. Louis, Missouri, to travel by steamboat in order to visit Paullin's family in Quincy, Illinois.

Close wrote in his journal, "To see what sort of land we should buy and to have some idea of their value, we organized our party for a week or ten days cruise on wheels through the western and less settled parts of Iowa.

After the brothers had traveled throughout the Iowa prairies they returned to Quincy where they stayed briefly with Paullin and his family, including his daughter Mary.

Upon the arrival of the two Paullin family members in Boston, the Close brothers traveled with them by train so they could visit Iowa's prairies in order to consider which land to buy.

[16] Because farming in Iowa could yield a 54 per cent return on investment, in 1877, British squires were interested in sending their sons to live on suitable land.

The company gave men from English universities the opportunity to become farmers in Iowa and it also started an agricultural college that taught relevant farming methods for that area.

Journalist Poultney Bigelow wrote in Harper's Magazine and described the colony,They have the very best ground for fox hunting in the world – a rolling prairie with a creek here and there.

[17] A newspaper journalist in Le Mars, Iowa, wrote, "They descend from the recesses of the Pullman palace cars dressed in the latest London and Paris styles, with Oxford hats, bright linen shining on their bosoms, a gold repeater tucking in the depths of their fashionably cut vest pockets.

[23] While living in Sibley, Iowa, with his wife Margaret, Frederick wrote to his brother in London about part of the Antibes property being sold.

[30] Three months after Frederick Close died in 1890, William's wife Mary gave birth to a son named Herbert.

[31] In November 1897, Close met entrepreneur Charles Wilkinson who had maps, pictures, and stories about Alaska and the Yukon.

Close assumed that Wilkinson could not pay back the loan on time, so he negotiated with others, including associates he knew about taking control.

Wilkinson attempted to raise more money in Canada, but accepted the inevitable and gave Close control of the construction.

On 8 March 1898, Close and his team researched legal issues that could prevent the completion of the railroad, known as the White Pass and Yukon Route.

Towards the end of his life, Close continued these business ventures and also hired others to use metal in order to reinforce concrete and roads.