I asked the same question here not too long ago. My 7th grader was working on a genealogy project for a history class. The best link was posted by LyndaM, and yes, it was from ancestry.com in the UK, but I think the link might be free access. I email'ed the link to the mother of one of my son's classmates who was also working on his genealogy homework project at the same time and she had no problem using the link.