The record indicates that there must have been a whole series of violent battles extending over several years. We speculate that it was during these terrible years that Mormon found a wife and that his son, Moroni, was born to her. There is a further possibility that during all of the fighting, famine, disease, and destruction, Mormon lost his wife. Mormon at this time was in his early thirties.
He seems to have had only one son, and since he never mentions his wife or any other members of his family, we assume he may have lost his wife during this early period and for this reason there were no other children born to Mormon. Finally, in 345 A.D., when Mormon was 34 and thousands of the Nephites had been slaughtered, the Lamanites drove them further northward. Mormon said he was not able to stop them until they had come to the city of Jashon.