Thomas H. Tongue

Thomas H. Tongue was born in Lincolnshire, England, on June 23, 1844. He attended the public schools of England before immigrating to the United States with his parents. In Oregon, Tongue attended the Tualatin Academy preparatory school in nearby Forest Grove. He then enrolled at Pacific University, a college affiliated with Tualatin Academy, and graduated from the school in June 1868. After graduating he moved to Hillsboro, the county seat of Washington County, where he studied law. On December 25, 1869, he married Emily Margaret Eagleton, daughter of George Eagleton. ==Career==

Tongue was admitted to the Oregon State Bar in 1870 and began private legal practice in Hillsboro. He would serve a second term three years later from December 13, 1886, to December 9, 1887. The were south of First Avenue and Baseline in present-day downtown Hillsboro, with Tongue using the land for his hobby farm. Serving in both the 1889 and 1891 sessions, the Republican represented District 27 and Washington County. While in the State Senate he was selected as the chairperson of the judiciary committee. A Republican Party official, Tongue served on the party's state central committee from 1886 to 1896. In 1890, he was elected to the post of chairman for the Republican state convention and followed that position as president of the state party from 1892 to 1894. In 1892, Oregon received a second congressional district, and Tongue served as the Republican party's chairman for the district until 1896. Also in 1892, Tongue served as a delegate to the Republican National Convention held in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and served as the vice president of the Oregon delegation to the convention in 1894. ==Congress==

Thomas Tongue was elected in 1896 as a Republican to the 55th Congress from Oregon's 1st congressional district. Replacing Binger Hermann, Tongue won by a total of 63 votes over his opponents. He was re-elected three times and served in the 56th and 57th United States Congresses. Tongue won by 3,100 votes in 1900 and by 7,318 votes in the 1902 campaign. He introduced bills to create the park in 1898, 1899, and finally in 1901 when the bill was passed by Congress. After Tongue's death, Binger Hermann, who Tongue succeeded in Congress, was elected to complete Tongue's term. Thomas Brackett Reed, Speaker of the House during Tongue's first two terms, considered Tongue "one of the seven ablest men in the House." ==Family==

Tongue and his wife, the former Emily M. Eagleton, had eight children: Edmund Burke Tongue, Edwin Tongue, Mary G. Lombard, Thomas H. Tongue Jr., Elizabeth Fey, Florence Munger, Bertha Rebecca Tongue, and Edith. Edith married Alfred E. Reames, who would serve in the United States Senate. Congressman Tongue was buried in Hillsboro, Oregon, at the family's private plot next to the Masonic Cemetery (now Pioneer Cemetery). Tongue was the grandfather of Thomas H. Tongue III (1912 – 1994), who served as an associate justice of the Oregon Supreme Court. ==See also==