[2] In 1883, he married Laura Cook, whom he met when she worked for his family,[3] and they had one son, Allan Corey.

In 1906, Laura filed for divorce in Reno, Nevada, charging that William had deserted her in May 1905.

[4] Laura was awarded custody of Allan[5] and a settlement of $3,000,000 (approximately $101,733,000 today).

[1][11] The city of Fairfield, Alabama, was originally named for Corey in 1910 by the Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company (TCI), which built the city as a model city for workers at the company's nearby Fairfield Works.

The negative publicity from Corey's divorce prompted U.S. Steel, which had taken over TCI, to rename the city for the company president's hometown in Connecticut.