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I very much enjoyed the article. I had independently concluded that there are 12 generations of the Alma family, but had not noted the 12 repetitions of the name Mormon in Mosiah 18, a relevant fact. I added a number of quotations from this article to my online copy of the Book of Mormon.
I developed the 12 generation theory in connection with work I am doing that I won’t discuss here, but I map the 12 generations differently. The Alma family seem to have a tradition of giving two father/son generations the same name. Like you, I concluded that Mormon marks himself as part of that family by letting us know his father was also named Mormon. But I develop my reading from the documented generations: Alma/Alma, Helaman/Helaman, Nephi/Nephi, Amos/Amos (Ammaron), Mormon, Moroni. That gives us 10 generations of the Alma family specifically mentioned in the text. Ammaron passing the record to Mormon is strong evidence that Mormon was a member of the Alma family, the first family of the Nephites. After keeping a record of the family’s doings in the family for 8 generations, it is likely that Ammaron (like his brother Amos) would have felt obligated to likewise keep the record in the family, by passing it to a collateral line.
There are many reasons to think Mormon was a member of the Alma family. The Alma family had a tradition of inculcating faith and leadership talent in the next generation. Ammoron seems to have played that teaching role with Mormon and, thus, directly observed his talent and faith. Clearly, Mormon has the kind of prominence that other members of the Alma family have, occupying like other members of the family a top lmilitary/political post.
The number 10, like the number 12 is consequential. If we merely stipulate that Mormon is a descendent of Alma, we have 10 documented generations from the first Alma to Moroni. So where do I get the other two generations to make 12. If we stipulate, plausibly, that the first Alma is a contemporary of King Limhi (and thus, in the third Zeniffite generation), then there were two additional generations of the Alma family who lived in the Land of Nephi near the Waters of Mormon. So the 12 generations begin with Zeniff’s return to the Land of Nephi. And 12 generations are documented in the text. Eight are fully documented: Alma/Alma, Helaman/Helaman, Nephi/Nephi, Amos/Amos. Two at the beginning are contemporaries of Zeniff and Noah. Two at the end, Mormon and Moroni, are in the collateral line that inherited and maintained the record when the second Amos and his brother Ammaron did not have sons who could assume the record keeping duties.
Thank you so much for your appreciation of my article! It is humbling to receive such positive feedback from you, especially because I enjoyed your article on the two Ammons so much! I am hoping to write a future article for the Interpreter that will specifically draw on that article. You have brought together some convincing data that makes me feel more comfortable with the very hypothetical connections in my article! Thank you for your response!
I loved your article thank you. Is there somewhere I can see the 12 generations? I am close (Alma / Alma / Helaman / Helaman / Nephi / Nephi / Nephi / Amos / Ammaron / Mormon / Mormon). That is 11 so I am missing someone. Thanks.
Thanks Jim! Unfortunately, Mormon never gives us his actual genealogy. He tells us his father’s name and his heritage, but that is all. We have the names of the record keepers, which followed the descendants of Alma, but we don’t know how Mormon’s lineage fits in with this line. My paper posits a hypothesis about Mormon’s genealogy and that is all it can be… for now, I think! Thanks again for your comment!