John R. Fellows (July 29, 1832 – December 7, 1896) was an American lawyer and politician from Arkansas and New York. He served as New York County District Attorney (1888–1890, 1894–1896), and a member of Congress from New York (1891–1893).
Early life
He was the son of Tisdale Eddy Fellows (1800–1874), farmer and later Superintendent of the Halfmoon Cemetery, and Eliza (Harris) Fellows (1809–1867). The family moved to a farm in Stillwater[1] (a part which is now in the city of Mechanicville. New York) in Saratoga County, New York, where he attended the country schools. Among his playmates was Elmer E. Ellsworth.
Afterwards he resumed the practice of law in Camden. He was a member of the Arkansas Senate from 1866 to 1867.[2] On July 4, 1867, he married Lizzie Reynolds, and they had six children.
Career in New York
He was a delegate to the 1868 Democratic National Convention, held at the new Tammany Hall building in New York City, and was noticed by Tammany boss William M. Tweed as an eloquent campaign speaker. Urged by Tweed, Fellows removed to New York City to continue the practice of law there and to campaign for the Tammany organization.
Legal career
Tweed secured Fellows's appointment in 1868 by Corporation Counsel Richard O'Gorman (1821–1895) as Assistant C.C., and in 1869, D.A. Samuel B. Garvin appointed Fellows an Assistant New York County District Attorney. He remained in this office until the end of 1872 when Garvin's term expired and a Republican D.A. succeeded. After the fall of Tweed, Fellows left Tammany and joined the Anti-Tammany Democrats in New York City, at times known as the "Young Democracy", the "County Democracy" and "Irving Hall".
Fellows was re-appointed Assistant D.A. in 1882 by D.A. John McKeon, and remained on this post under John Vincent, Wheeler H. Peckham, Peter B. Olney and Randolph B. Martine. Fellows was elected on the Tammany and County Democracy tickets D.A. in November 1887, defeating his fellow Assistant D.A. De Lancey Nicoll who was a Democrat but ran on the Republican ticket. During the fiercely fought election campaign, two letters Fellows had written to Boss Tweed on February 1, 1873, asking for a loan of $523, (~$13,302 in 2023) were published in The New York Times, with the comment that this was the payment for Fellows's service in having the jury disagree on a verdict against Tweed on the previous day, and that the "loan" was never paid back. Fellows was D.A. from 1888 to 1890, but did not run for re-election in November 1890, preferring to rejoin Tammany Hall and to run for Congress instead. Nicoll was then elected on the Tammany ticket to succeed as D.A.
^Sources give "in" or "near" Mechanicville, New York, but this village was incorporated in 1859 from an area belonging to the Town of Stillwater at the time Fellows lived there. Stillwater was his father's birthplace, other family members are registered as having died at Mechanicville after the 1860s.