, author of a very useful Biographical Dictionary, was descended from
, author of a very
useful Biographical Dictionary, was descended from the
ancient and noble family of the Calfopedi of Florence,
which removed into France under Francis I. At the revocation of the edict of Nantz, Samuel de Chaufepié, the
representative of the family, and pfotestant minister at
Couhé in Poitou, was obliged to take refuge in Friesland,
where he died pastor of the church of Leuwarden in 1704.
He had ten children by his wife Maria Marbœuf de la
Rimbaudiere, of whom the subject of the present article
was the youngest, and born at Leuwarden, Nov. 9, 1702.
He was educated partly at Franeker, under professor Andala, as appears by his maintaining an academical thesis
before that professor, in 1718, on “Innate Ideas,
” and
probably about the same time, a second on “The punishment of the Cross,
” which was afterwards published in a
collection by Gerdes, in 1734. After being admitted into
the ministry, he preached for some time at Flushing, then
at Delft, and lastly at Amsterdam, where he was pastor of
the Walloon church, and where he died, highly respected
for piety and learning, and much lamented, July 3, 1786.
He was not more diligent in the discharge of his professional functions, than attached to studious researches, which
he pursued throughout the whole of his long life. In 1736
he published, “Lettres sur divers sujets importans de la
Religion,
” 12mo, and in Universal History,
” which he improved very considerably, particularly
in the history of Venice. This labour, however, he discontinued in 1771, and does not appear after that to have
published any thing of consequence, confining himself to
his pastoral duties, if we except his “Life of Servetus,
”
which in