Their faith lives on

Initially, our committee chose to write only the New Salem story as it wove itself around and within the stories of neighboring parishes, bringing in the Visitation's history at the time the two parishes combined. As our research expanded, it became evident that Visitation's history was so interwoven, even prior to the consolidation of the two parishes, that it would be impossible to write an understandable and accurate work without telling North Dorr's story more completely. Consequently, this work contains the history of three parishes: St. Mary's, New Salem; Visitation, North Dorr; and , St. Mary's Visitation. ... Instead of a genealogy-focused history, we chose to write a history of the parishes as a whole, sharing family stories that resonated with many, describing situations that most families lived through, and saving for posterity the ones that we felt most important.--Page iii.