One-stop Shops
www.afrigenes.com
www.rootsweb.com
www.ancestry.com
www.familysearch.org
Portal Sites
www.usgenweb.org
www.genealogyhomepage.com
www.genealogyportal.com
Allen County Public Library
Also explore state archives and historical societies
Census records www.census-online.com or www.us-census.org
Images of census pages are available to ancestry.com subscribers or for sale on CD-Rom you can also view pages on microfilm at the National Archives and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saint's Family History Library both of which have branches around the world and country.

Immigration info. passenger lists spanning six centuries are available in referance books, on CD-Rom and on fee based genealogy sites; many are also searchable for free thanks to sites like www.immigrantships.net,www.olivetreegenealogy.com,
The Ellis Island site,
The U.S. Citizenship and Naturalization Service site.

The Cival War Soldiers and Sailors System,
TheUnited Sates Internet Genealogical Society Military Collection site

The National Archives and records Administration

You can hire help via the Association of Professional Genealogists hourly fees typically in the range from $30 to $60