According to Potter and Wellington, Nephi’s record gives tantalizing hints that there were non-family members in his party. First, the Lord referred to Nephi’s party not as his “family” or “families,” but as “thy people” (1 Nephi 17:8). After reaching the New World, Nephi’s group separated themselves from the families of Laman and Lemuel and the sons of Ishmael. Nephi recorded:
Wherefore, it came to pass that I, Nephi did take my family, and also Zoram and his family, and Sam, mine elder brother and his family, and Jacob and Joseph, my younger brethren, and also my sisters, and all those who would go with me … (2 Nephi 5:6; emphasis added)
One might ask, Who are Nephi’s “people”? and Who is referred to by the phrase “all those who would go with me”?
Only two or perhaps three generations after arriving in the promised land, we find some additional statements by Jacob that might reflect on the diversity of their people. Jacob was chastising his people because “ye … persecute your brethren because ye suppose that ye are better than they” (Jacob 2:13). Jacob also urged the people to “think of your brethren like unto yourself, and be familiar with all” (Jacob 2:17). Jacob also taught that “concubines ye shall have none” (Jacob 2:27). It would seem from these remarks that social strata had begun to appear among them, and as a result, some of the women were considered of such a lowly station that they were not to be taken as wives but concubines. The presence of servants in the Lehi‘s initial group might help Jacob’s remarks. [George Potter & Richard Wellington, Discovering The Lehi-Nephi Trail, Unpublished Manuscript (July 2000), p. 232] [See the commentary on 1 Nephi 17:8; Ether 10:5]