Cynthia Simpson Stevens - first female Stevens to graduate college - Oberlin College, Ohio 1844 Literary Degree. Roswell Hunt Stevens - incorporator of Howard University in Washington D.C., a theological seminary for the education of African American clergymen. 1866/67 Durham White Stevens - American diplomat, employee of Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, assassinated 1908 in San Francisco. Ezra Lincoln Stevens - at his own expense housed, fed and nursed wounded soldiers during the Civil War in Washington D.C. His wife was exhausted!