Native American ancestry: From “the principal ancestors” to “among the ancestors”
The 1981 Church-published Book of Mormon introduction identified Lamanites as “the principal ancestors of the American Indians.” Later editions replaced “the principal ancestors” with “among the ancestors.” The older claim can be checked in the published edition and in the Church’s own list of textual adjustments.
The short answer
Did Church editions identify Lamanites as the principal ancestors of Native Americans?
Yes. The 1981 Church-published introduction made that claim explicitly. This was wording readers encountered in their scriptures, not an allegation invented by critics.
The language
One sentence, a different scope
“After thousands of years, all were destroyed except the Lamanites, and they are the principal ancestors of the American Indians.”
“After thousands of years, all were destroyed except the Lamanites, and they are among the ancestors of the American Indians.”
Earlier leaders identified Native peoples as Lamanites
These statements establish a broad identification of living Native peoples with Book of Mormon peoples. They do not all make the more specific population claim expressed by “principal ancestors.” That wording is documented directly in the 1981 introduction. Emphasis in the excerpts below is added.
“The term Lamanite includes all Indians and Indian mixtures”
“We are informed by these records that America in ancient times has been inhabited by two distinct races of people. The first were called Jaredites and came directly from the tower of Babel. The second race came directly from the city of Jerusalem, about six hundred years before Christ. They were principally Israelites, of the descendants of Joseph. The Jaredites were destroyed about the time that the Israelites came from Jerusalem, who succeeded them in the inheritance of the country. The principal nation of the second race fell in battle towards the close of the fourth century. The remnant are the Indians that now inhabit this country.”
“…he said unto me I am a messenger sent from God, be faithful and keep his commandments in all things, he told me of a sacred record which was written on plates of gold, I saw in the vision the place where they were deposited, he said the Indians were the literal descendants of Abraham…”
“The Book of Mormon is a record of the forefathers of our western tribes of Indians; having been found through the ministration of an holy angel, and translated into our own language by the gift and power of God, after having been hid up in the earth for the last fourteen hundred years, containing the word of God which was delivered unto them. By it we learn that our western tribes of Indians are descendants from that Joseph who was sold into Egypt, and that the land of America is a promised land unto them, and unto it all the tribes of Israel will come, with as many of the Gentiles as shall comply with the requisitions of the new covenant.”
The Church’s explanation
The Church acknowledges the wording change
The Church’s published list of adjustments records the replacement of “the principal ancestors” with “among the ancestors” and calls the change one of “clarity and greater accuracy.” The same list records a second narrowing in the first paragraph: “a record of God’s dealings with the ancient inhabitants of the Americas” became “a record of God’s dealings with ancient inhabitants of the Americas.” Its DNA essay dates the update to 2006.
The essay then assigns the broader claim to others. It says “most early Latter-day Saints assumed” that Book of Mormon peoples were “the first or the largest or even the only groups to settle the Americas,” and that “building upon this assumption, critics insist” the book does not allow for other large populations. It does not mention that the Church’s own introduction printed the “principal ancestors” claim from 1981 until the 2006 change, or that an apostle wrote in the Church’s magazine that “the term Lamanite includes all Indians and Indian mixtures.”
The essay also says the Book of Mormon “does not claim” its peoples were the predominant or exclusive inhabitants. The book itself records Lehi’s promise that his descendants “shall be kept from all other nations, that they may possess this land unto themselves”—a promise the text conditions on their keeping the commandments (2 Nephi 1:9).
Finding
The broader ancestry claim was printed in Church editions
“Principal” assigns a leading ancestral role. “Among” asserts inclusion without specifying a leading share. The later wording retains ancestry while withdrawing the earlier claim of primacy. Someone who remembers reading the stronger statement is recalling documented Church-published wording.
Sources
Check the editions and the acknowledged change
The earlier edition, current introduction, and official adjustment list supply the central comparison. The essay supplies the Church’s date and explanation; the earlier leadership sources are linked above.