Both Nephi and Jacob charged their successors with maintaining objects sacred to the people. Enos, however, simply instructs his son to maintain the family genealogy. A similar charge marks the transition between Jarom and his son Omni (Omni 1:1). Yet neither Jarom nor Omni (nor Jacob and only tangentially Nephi) record a genealogy. The only genealogical information is Jarom’s identification of his father’s name. Why is the one thing that the authors understood as the primary reason for keeping the record in the first place missing?
They do include genealogy insofar as they indicate their connection to the lineage that is caring for the small plates. From the rest of what they include, they clearly believe that the indication of their relationship to the transmission line is all that is specifically required. The concept of genealogy includes beginnings (and therefore begettings) as well as the linking of such information through time. Certainly the chronological ordering of a genealogy fits with the concept of a history, and the probable sacred nature attached to particular kin might be the link by which these ideas were melded.