In 1841 an act was passed authorizing the election of trustees and commissioners. Mr. Fellows was elected one of the trustees for the Fourth Ward, and was afterwards a member of the Board of Education. In the exciting controversy concerning the reading of the Scriptures in the public schools he took the position which experience has shown to be the wisest, and, by making a complete separation between religious and secular instruction, has removed from the Catholic portion of Ihe community all just cause of complaint.

While he held the office of commissioner he was the first to introduce resolutions for the establishment ■of evening schools for the benefit of apprentices and ■others whose vocations prevented their attendance in the day-schools, and this in itself is enough to justly ■entitle him to the gratitude of thousands of citizens. The schools thus established were eminently successful, and their benefits will be felt for all time to come. It was largely owing to his efforts that evening schools were established for the benefit of females. Six were established during the first year, and this number was doubled in the following year. Mr. Fellows was appointed chairman of the Committee on Evening Schools, and devoted so much time and labor to their advancement that their acknowledged success is largely attributed to his active energy. He was also prominent in the establishment of the New York Free Academy, and introduced resolutions for establishing a free academy for females, a scheme which is now perfected in the Free Normal College. No truthful history of the cause of education in New York can be written which does not give a leading place to the name of Edward B. Fellows.