Ether prophesied to Coriantumr that "if he would repent, and all his household, the Lord would give unto him his kingdom and spare the people. Otherwise they should be destroyed, and all his household save it were himself" (Ether 13:20-21).
According to Verneil Simmons, the popular belief that the record requires a complete destruction of the Jaredite nation down to the last man, woman, and child should be reviewed. It is a common occurrence in Old Testament history to use all-inclusive terms when less than the total is actually meant. For example, in Jeremiah 39:6 we read that the king of Babylon slew all the nobles of Judah. Yet but a short time later one Ishmael "of the seed royal," accompanied by the "princes of the king," murdered Gedaliah who had been left as governor in the land. Obviously, not all the nobles had been slain -- only those who had been with King Zedekiah when he was captured. In I Chronicles 10:6 we read that Saul "and all his house died together;" yet a younger son of Saul ruled for several years in Israel after Saul's death. In this case "all his house" meant those three sons captured with Saul. The all-inclusiveness appears to refer, in most instances, to those engaged in the immediate action. So when we read in Ether's account how every soul should be destroyed with the exception of Coriantumr, we should not insist that no one else survived out of a nation of several million people. [Verneil W. Simmons, Peoples, Places and Prophecies, p. 101]
That not "all" were destroyed is confirmed by the fact that Ether survived to make a record. We are not told whether it was Coriantumr himself who carved the "large stone" which was found and brought to King Mosiah1 and which contained the story of "one Coriantumr, and the slain of his people" (Omni 1:20-21).
“They Should Be Destroyed and All His Household Save It Were Himself”
In Ether 13:21 we find Ether prophesying to Coriantumr that if we would not repent, and all his household, that they should be destroyed, and all his household save it were himself. And he should only live to see the fulfilling of the prophecies which had been spoken concerning another people receiving the land for their inheritance; and Coriantumr should receive a burial by them; and every soul should be destroyed save it were Coriantumr.
Moroni notes that "Coriantumr repented not, neither his household, neither the people and the wars ceased not" (Ether 13:22).
Anthony W. Ivins, who would later become an apostle and counselor to President Heber J. Grant, in 1902 came up with an idea that may have been unique [for his time]. He asked the question, "Are the Jaredites an extinct people" to which most readers of the Book of Mormon would quickly respond, of course, long since extinct. But on the basis of his research, Ivins, who was a native of the Mexican LDS colonies, felt that the answer might not be so definite. He reported that in the national archives in Mexico City he had recently found an account by Francisco Munoz de la Vega, a former Catholic bishop in the state of Chiapas in southern Mexico, in which the cleric reported on an ancient manuscript that was in his possession. It stated that "the father and founder of their nation was named Te-po-na-hu-ale, which signified, 'Lord of the Hollow Piece of Wood'" The document further reported that this ancestor was "present at the building of the great tower, and beheld with his own eyes the confusion of languages." After that event, God commanded him to come "to these extensive regions [of Mesoamerica] and divide them among mankind."
Ivins posed the question, "Was the writer of this manuscript a Jaredite?" Jared was present at the building of "the great tower at the time the Lord confounded the language of the people" (Ether 1:33). Then the Lord had him build barges ("hollow pieces of wood"?) to cross the ocean to the New World. But how might a record of these matters have been preserved, since the book of Ether seems to say that all Jaredites were destroyed? Ivin's suggested solution to the puzzle was that Coriantumr could have had descendants. Before his death, that final Jaredite king lived for the space of nine moons among the people of Zarahemla before the latter people came to a knowledge of the Nephites (see Omni 1:21-22). "During this period he may have begotten children." This seems even more likely, Ivins thought, given "the high estimate placed upon posterity by the ancients." It is logical that he would desire that his name be preserved, so he "would take [Mulekite] wives and beget children." Those descendants "would undoubtedly teach their children the story of the origin of their fathers" and of the great tower, hence the tradition recorded in the document held by de la Vega. [Author not listed, "Did the 'Last Jaredite,' Coriantumr, Leave Descendants," in Journal of Book of Mormon Studies, FARMS, Vol 8, Num 2, 1999, p. 82]
Geographical [Theory Map]: Ether 13:23 - 13:31 Shared Battles Coriantumr (Chronology)