 Matthews further acted as a member of a committee charged with persuading President James Madison to sell his stable on Fourteenth and G Streets to be used as the new schoolhouse for the Lancasterian school.He sat on another committee that was charged with making rules and regulations for the school system in 1815, and the reorganization of the system in 1816.In 1825, Matthews founded the St. Vincent's Female Orphan Asylum near St. Patrick's Church in Washington.