“I Jarom, Write that Our Genealogy May Be Kept”

"To keep proper and correct genealogies of all our forefathers is a vital part of the Gospel plan. Every Latter-day Saint knows that in this way we may extend to our ancestors the blessings of the Gospel and thus become saviors on Mt. Zion. The Lord has enjoined his people, in every dispensation, to keep adequate records so that his purposes, in the end, will be fulfilled. The Jews and all the other tribes of Israel were vigilant in keeping in their proper order, a record of the lineage through which they sprang. The Nephites were zealous in all efforts to do this. Lehi found upon the Plates of Brass, a genealogy of his fathers and his descendants and ever afterwards preserved this divine injunction. Jarom, therefore, that the line may not be broken, writes a 'few words' according to this commandment which he had received." (Reynolds and Sjodahl, Commentary on the Book of Mormon, vol. 1, p. 496)