Following their marriage, William and Mary went to live in Tuatapere where William went into partnership with his uncle, Bob Aitken, in the butchery trade, making deliveries by horse and cart. As a young man, William was a keen sportsman, and was in training for NZ championships for running. The day before his 21st birthday 15 November 1901, he had a bad accident while bush felling and he lost his left foot. He had to be taken to Riverton hospital by trolley, and because there were no telephones in those days, birthday guests could not be told of the accident and they still turned up to celebrate his birthday.
Despite this disability, William kept up his interest in sport, and was one of the first committee members of the Tuatapere Sports Club. He was a judge and timekeeper at all sports meetings up until a few years before his death. He was the second person to own a car in Tuatapere, a Dort, and he surely made good use of it when the 'Great Flu' struck New Zealand after World War One in 1918. He and Nurse Sommerville used the car to carry the dying to hospital and the dead to the mortuary. At times William's son, 4 years old Bert, went along with them, wrapped up in a blanket sitting between them on the front seat of the car.176