Constellation Similarity Assertions

Leonard Arrington was born on July 2, 1917, in Twin Falls, Idaho, the second child of Noah and Edna Arrington, two devout members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (more commonly known as Mormons). Growing up on a chicken farm, Leonard first entertained thoughts of becoming a farmer himself. This desire was enhanced through his participation in the Future Farmers of America, where he served in both state and national positions. When the time for college came, Arrington chose the University of Idaho, where he had attended an FFA convention, hoping to major in agriculture. The chemistry requirements, however, soon led Arrington to change his mind and he concentrated instead on agricultural economics.

After graduating from the University of Idaho, Arrington continued his education at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he began studies towards a doctorate in economics and began teaching classes with the aid of a Kenan Teaching Fellowship. World War II interrupted his schooling, and Arrington served overseas for the United States in both North Africa and Italy from 1943 to 1946, working first in a prisoner-of-war processing division and later performing tasks for Italy's Institute of Statistics. These years were especially difficult for Arrington since he had to be away from his wife, Grace Fort, whom he had married in the fall of 1942. Following the war, Arrington returned to the United States, where he began working as an economics professor at Utah State Agricultural College (later Utah State University) in Logan in 1946. Returning in subsequent years to the University of North Carolina to complete course work and necessary exams, he finally received his doctorate in economics in March 1952. His dissertation was entitled "Mormon Economic Policies and Their Implementation on the Western Frontier, 1847-1900." This topic led Arrington to begin studying a wide variety of issues pertaining to Mormon economic history. Following the publication of his first scholarly articles on this subject in 1951, Arrington began slowly to transform himself from an economist to a historian.

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