Re: Alexis Benoit m. Marie Clement 5 JUN 1824; beginning genealogy

You are lucky. There are thousands of web sites devoted to Cajun culture, music and food. Germans who settled in the mid-west had a distinctive music and cuisine too, but it was so bad that it has almost died out by now, except for the Jell-O salads. Crayfish estoufe vs. boiled dumplings - there's a choice you can make in a second, even if the crayfish is harder to spell.

Roy Blount Jr. told of hearing a Cajan gentleman call to his son, who was fixing the roof "Jean - unclimb that ladder! Supper's on!" People don't speak that colorfully up in Nebraska.

A good palce to start for data is RootsWeb World Connect:
http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgihttp://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi
Five people there have Alexis.

Another place is the Mormons,
http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Search/frameset_search.asphttp://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Search/frameset_search.asp
They have his birth.

Last week they added a massive project, the 1880 census. Charles is there as "Amadeo". This is what the family looked like in 1880; it lines up on the real web site, and Ernest doesn't have asterisks around himself and his wife:

NameRelation Marital Status Gender Race Age Birthplace Occupation Father's Birthplace Mother's Birthplace
Amadeo BENOITSelfMMaleW57LAFarmerLALA
Evalina BENOITWifeMFemaleW42LAKeeping HouseLALA

***********************************************
*** Ernest BENOITSonMMaleW19LALaborerLALA
*** Justilia BENOITDauLMFemaleW17LAAt HomeLALA
************************************************

Douglas BENOITSonSMaleW15LALaborerLALA
Telvina BENOITDauSFemaleW13LAAt HomeLALA
Volzi BENOITSonSMaleW14LALaborerLALA
Lydia BENOITDauSFemaleW9LALALA
Paulin BENOITSonSMaleW8LALALA
Joseph BENOITSonSMaleW6LALALA
Oristile BENOITSonSMaleW4LALALA

Census Place 5th Ward, Lafourche, Louisiana

As for getting started, the best place is RootsWeb'sguide to family trees,
http://rwguide.rootsweb.com/http://rwguide.rootsweb.com/
It is well-written, profusely illustrated, comprehensive and free.

This site (ahem) is also about beginning genealogy. It isn't as well written, but it has better jokes:
http://www.tedpack.org/begingen.htmlhttp://www.tedpack.org/begingen.html
Also, I have a monthly bet with a fellow over whose site gets the most hits.