There used to be a handful of other databases besides the SSDI that were free as well, I wasn't aware that they had stopped that.
You should at least be able to do a free search to see if any "hits" come up for a name you are researching. There are some people with memberships on RootsChat. If you want a lookup of something, you should post it on the these boards, I'm sure someone would look it up for you.
There is a free index for births & deaths in Mass. (1841-1910) available at
http://www.sec.state.ma.us/arc/arcsrch/VitalRecordsSearchContents.html.
Maine has free indexes for some later marriages (1892-1996) & deaths (1960-1996) at
http://www.maine.gov/sos/arc/.
There are also records from various New England locations included on FamilySearch at
http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Search/frameset_search.asp?PAGE=igi/search_IGI.asp&clear_form=true. (These have a note with them that the record was extracted from the given locality).
Honestly, I think the NEHGS membership is well worth it. Also, if you ever get to the Boston area, they allow access to their library for $15 per day -- lots of useful microfilms & books there, as well as access to their databases. . .
The other thing I would recommend if you are doing research for New England in the 1600s-1800s, see if any of your local libraries carry
HeritageQuest Online. In some places you can even access it from home with a library card. It has many books with family genealogies & local histories, the US Censuses (not all indexed), & some Revolutionary War Records. Also, some libraries offer free access to
Ancestry.com.
