FamilySearch.org

The best site on the web for free searches has to be FamilySearch.org. This website is provided by The Church of Jesus Christ and Latter Day Saints. It is the largest collection of family history data available in the world. They have been gathering genealogical information for over 100 years. The original microfilm of records is stored at Granite Mountain Records Vault in Utah. This is to safehouse the data, in the event something where to happen to the data at the library it could be reproduced from the vault. Happy searching!