Editing Tuftonboro, New Hampshire (section)

==History==
[[File:Tuftonboro United Methodist Church.jpg|thumb|left|The United Methodist Church in Tuftonboro]]
Tuftonboro was the only incorporated place in [[New Hampshire]] owned by just one man, John Tufton Mason, for whom the town was named. Following the 1741 separation of New Hampshire from [[Province of Massachusetts Bay|Massachusetts]], Mason was heir to the [[John Mason (governor)|Masonian Claim]], the undivided lands of northern New Hampshire. He sold them in 1746 to a group of [[Portsmouth, New Hampshire|Portsmouth]] merchants, thereafter known as the Masonian Proprietors. They disposed of the land via grants to prospective settlers prior to the [[American Revolution|Revolution]].

The town was granted as "Tuftonborough" in 1750 by colonial Governor [[Benning Wentworth]], and first settled about 1780. It was incorporated by the [[New Hampshire Legislature|legislature]] on December 17, 1795. By 1859, when the population was 1,305, the principal occupation was raising [[cattle]] and [[sheep]] across the hilly terrain. Other industries included two [[sawmill]]s, one [[window sash|sash]], [[window shutter|blind]] and [[door]] factory, one [[carriage]] factory, and two [[gristmill]]s.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=OcoMAAAAYAAJ&dq=coolidge+mansfield+history+description+new+england+1859&pg=PA666 A. J. Coolidge & J. B. Mansfield, ''A History and Description of New England;'' Boston, Massachusetts 1859]</ref>