Louis Herman Tafel was born in Ulm, Germany, on December 7, 1840, and came to America with his parents in November, 1853.   He fought with the Confederate Army in the Civil War.  He was twice made prisoner, but still returned to the ranks.  He was one of the 12 founders of the Academy of the New Church.  Ordained in 1869, he served as pastor in Philadelphia, Berlin Canada and Baltimore.  His monumental work was " The Vocabularies of   Swedenborg’s translations from the Hebrew and Greek Word".  He died on November 24, 1909.

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