Devadatta Devadatta Devadatta was by tradition a Buddhist monk, cousin and brother-in-law of Gautama Siddhārtha, the Sākyamuni Buddha, and brother of Ānanda, a principal student of the Buddha. Devadatta was a koliyan and sakyan and is said to have parted from the Buddha's following with 500 other monks to form their own Sangha, most of whom are said to have been Shakya clan relatives of both Devadatta and Siddhartha. The name "Devadatta" has the meaning "god-given" in Palī (cf. Latin "Deodatus", "Deusdedit"; both also meaning "god-given"). It is composed from the stem form of "deva" and the past participle "datta" of
Peter Spencer (religious leader) Peter Spencer (religious leader) Peter Spencer (1782–1843) was an American freedman who in 1813 founded the Union Church of Africans in Wilmington, Delaware. The denomination is now known as the African Union First Colored Methodist Protestant Church and Connection, or A.U.M.P. Church for short. Born into slavery in 1782 in Kent County, Maryland, Spencer was freed after his master died, by the terms of his will. Spencer moved north to Wilmington, Delaware, which had a large free black population. He contributed to the development of the free Africa-American community in this city. There he founded the Union Church of Africans