I believe Ancestry.com and Fold3 offer free 30 day trials. Ancestry give you access to census reports and even family trees that others have researched.

Fold3 gives you access to loads of military information in that it gives access to the National Archives. Either of these sites will give you information that would involve years of research to find the individual data that can be located on Ancestry and Fold3.

I purchased subscriptions for several years from both sites and was able to develop information on my mothers family as far back as the 1500s in Netherlands and followed them through England, New York City prior to selling New York to the English and subsequently over the entire United States.

It is a very interesting to be able to discover how your ancestors reached American and from their first arrival in the Americas. Most families eventually spread into all of the present United States.

Do not be surprised to find both outstanding citizens and also those that may have been killed in duels, hung or scalped by Indians. I have devoted over 20 years to family research and have invested several dollars.