Scotch-Irish, according to Professor James Leyburn in his book, Scotch-Irish: A Social History (1962), "is an Americanism, generally unknown in Scotland and Ireland, and rarely used by British historians".

This was a term for people who emigrated from the Lowlands of Scotland or Northern England to the most northern area of Ireland which was known as Ulster in the 17th century but is now called Northern Ireland. In the 18th and 19th centuries, many of these people (including the Getty family) then left for the United States where they were commonly referred to as Scotch-Irish.

Scotch was the usual adjective for things pertaining to Scotland, including people, until the 19th century, when it was eclipsed by the term, Scottish. It survives in certain set phrases, such as Scotch whisky and Scotch broth, Scotch pine and in the term Scotch-Irish.

From 1710 to 1775, over 200,000 people settled from Ulster to the original thirteen American colonies with the largest numbers settling in Pennsylvania. From that base some went south into Virginia, the Carolinas and across the South, with a large concentration in the Appalachian region. Others headed west to western Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and the Midwest.

George Kilpatrick Getty (shown above) and his family arrived in New York in 1852 when large numbers of Irish were making the transition to America. They eventually made their way to Lenawee County in southeastern Michigan.