The area came under the domain of the United States in 1811, and Mississippi was admitted into the Union in 1817. This brought more "Americans" to the general area, and families such as Bradford, Davis, Alsbury, Kendall, Bowen, Lynch, Porter, and Alley became a part of the history of Ocean Springs. The Ocean Springs area also became an enclave for foreign immigrants, primarily seamen and laborers. Men such as Joseph Bellande, Stanislaus Beaugez, and Augustus Cash came from France. Frank Coyle, John Rodrigues, Pablo Cox, Joseph Basque, and the Catchot brothers immigrated from Spain. Henry Colligan, John Ames, Martin Soden, Edward O'Keefe, and John Egan found their way here from Ireland during the Great Potato Famine. Antonio Franco came from Portugal. Slowly, a small village developed on the eastern shore of the Bay of Biloxi, which was referred to as Old Biloxi or East Biloxi. People in the area subsisted on harvesting seafood, farming, burning charcoal, lumbering, and naval stores.