I have my opinions about the Book of Mormon history.
Most events took place in the northeast of the United States and southeast of Canada.
The Gadianton robbers were in the Rocky Mountains mostly. The Lamanites lived in the southeast mainly east of the Mississippi River and from Tennesse south.
Ultimately exactly where everything happened is of secondary importance.
I was watching Come Follow Up on BYU TV. During the program one lady said Alma the Younger might have been in his 40s when he had the experience with the sons of Mosiah and the angel appeared to them. That got me thinking about how old the people of that time period my have been
The only two people that are given ages at the time they died are Alma the Father, who died at 83 and King Mosiah, who died at 62. (Mosiah 29: 45-46)
Then Alma the younger disappeared 18 years later.
Alma the younger’s son, Heleman, died 17 years later.
The son’s of Mosiah went on their missions for 14 years and then not much is ever hearer from them again.
If you assume Alma the Father, Alma the younger, King Mosiah, and the sons of King Mosiah were born, with somewhat “traditional” spacing, Alma the younger was closer to the age of King Mosiah than the sons of King Mosiah.
But if we assume that Alma the younger was almost the same age as the oldest son of King Mosiah that would assume his father, Alma the Elder, was about 45 when his son, Alma the Younger ,was born, and Alma the Younger was about 50 when he disappeared. Alma’s son, Helaman who is most famous because of the stripling warriors, died when he was about 45.
Possibly
Personally I really think the ages of everyone does not matter as much as the fact that we have their teachings
That said I like the idea that Alma the Younger was older, 40 maybe 50, because it can give me hope
If Alma the Father was born first, king Mosiah was born when Alma the father was about 20 years old.
Then maybe Alma the Younger was born maybe five years later.
Maybe 15 or 20 years later the sons of Mosiah started coming and it could have been 4 to10 years for them to be born.
By the time the sons of Mosiah started coming Alma the younger could have been 15 maybe 20 years old.
If Alma the younger had his son Heleman when he, Alma the Younger, was 25, Helaman would have died when he was 65 or 70. Alma the younger would have disappeared at age 75 or 80.
Is it possible?
Maybe.
Alma the father and Alma the son would have had similar life spans, Helaman probably had a more stressful life because he was in the military and lived through a war.
There are many other possibilities.
The exact timeframe doesn’t really matter. We have their teachings and it can fun to think about the other stuff from time to time.
Do I know where everything happened. No. I have my ideas.
Ultimately it doesn’t really matter the exact lifespan of individuals. We have there teachings and we can learn about Jesus Christ.
