 He was orphaned at a young age and emigrated to the United States in 1850 with his brother John, who moved to Bowling Green, Missouri.There were at least four other siblings - Jeremiah and James Cotter, Mary Cotter Leahey and Elizabeth Cotter Kennedy.Cotter and his siblings were taken in from an orphan's home and educated by John C. Sutton, a St. Louis, Missouri blacksmith, farmer and inventor of the Sutton plow.