Collection is open for research.
Gift of Thomas Healy Tongue, September 2024 (RL2024-070).
Thomas H. Tongue was born in 1844 in Lincolnshire, England, and emigrated to Oregon with his family in 1859. He studied at Pacific University in Forest Grove, graduating in 1868, and in 1870, he was admitted to the Oregon State Bar. He became active in Republican politics, and was mayor of Hillsboro, Oregon. He was elected to the Oregon Senate in 1888, and served until 1892. In 1896, he was elected to the United States House of Representatives. Upon being elected to Congress, he was told that he should have a middle initial, so he chose "H." As a congressman, he was chair of the Committee on Irrigation of Arid Lands. He also championed legislation to establish Crater Lake National Park and to award veterans' pensions to Euro-American Oregonians who had fought against Native peoples in the 1840s and 1850s.
Tongue married Margaret Emily Eagleton (sometimes written as Emily Margaret Eagleton, 1848-1922) in 1868; the couple had eight children, seven of whom survived to adulthood. Thomas H. Tongue died unexpectedly in January 1903 in Washington, D.C. His sons Thomas H. Tongue, Jr. (1879-1955) and Edmund Burke Tongue (1873-1939) continued Thomas H. Tongue's law practice in Hillsboro. E. B. Tongue was the district attorney for Washington County from 1908 to 1933. Like his father, Thomas H. Tongue, Jr., was active in Republican politics, and for two terms chaired the Oregon Republican Central Committee.
Sources: Obituary for Thomas H. Tongue in the Oregonian, January 12, 1903, page 1; Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (accessed September 17, 2025),
Due to fragility of the original, researchers are asked to use the preservation photocopy of the speech in favor of the United States annexing the Philippines.
Thomas H. Tongue family papers, Coll 1104, Oregon Historical Society Research Library.
Other materials at the Oregon Historical Society Research Library relating to Thomas H. Tongue and his family include the Oregon National Guard records, Mss 6020; the James Withycombe papers, Mss 1129; the Nancy Chipman letters, Mss 6003; and the vertical file Biography - Tongue, Thomas H.
The collection consists of papers of Oregon Congressman Thomas H. Tongue and his sons Thomas H. Tongue, Jr. and E. B. Tongue. Most of Thomas H. Tongue's papers relate to his career in Congress. These consist of an autograph book he kept while in office; an undated speech about the National Irrigation Society; the text of a January 1899 speech in favor of the United States annexing the Philippines (original and a preservation photocopy); the text of a 1901 speech about river and harbor improvements; a program for the 1901 U.S. presidential inauguration; and a 1902 seating chart of the U.S. House of Representatives. Other papers relating to Thomas H. Tongue consist of the proceedings of the Oregon Bar Association in 1893; and the transactions of the Oregon Pioneer Association for 1894, which feature an address by Tongue.
Materials in the collection relating to Thomas H. Tongue, Jr. and E. B. Tongue consist of a copy of the 1903 Portland Blue Book with an entry for Thomas H. Tongue, Jr.; a re-election poster for E. B. Tongue as Washington County district attorney; and a photograph portrait of U.S. President Warren G. Harding with an inscription to Thomas H. Tongue, Jr.
Program for the October 1930 dedication of commemorative tablets to members of the Oregon Provisional Government by the Multnomah Chapter of Daughters of the American Revolution was separated from the Tongue papers and added to the Associations and institutions collection, Mss 1511.
The Oregon Historical Society owns the materials in the Research Library and makes available reproductions for research, publication, and other uses. The Society does not necessarily hold copyright to all materials in the collections. In some cases, permission for use may require seeking additional authorization from copyright owners.