A Dictionary of the Book of Mormon/Amos, the elder
AMOS, THE ELDER. Amos was the son of Nephi, the son of Nephi, the Apostle. For eighty-four years (from A. C. 110 to A. C. 194) he was the custodian of the sacred records and the other holy things. He lived in the days of the Nephites' greatest prosperity and happiness. The perfect law of righteousness was still their only guide. But before he passed away to his heavenly home, a small cloud had appeared upon the horizon, fatal harbinger of the approaching devastating hurricane. A few, weary of the uninterrupted bliss, the perfect harmony, the universal love that everywhere prevailed, seceded from the Church and took upon them the name of Lamanites, which ill-boding name had only been known to the Nephites by tradition for more than a hundred years.
There is one thing very noteworthy with regard to the descendants of Alma at this period, it is their longevity. Amos and his two sons (Amos and Ammaron) kept the records for the space of two hundred and ten years. This is a testimony to all believers in the Book of Mormon, to the highly beneficial results arising to the body as well as to the soul of every one who gives undeviating, continued obedience to the laws of God. No people since the deluge, of whom we have any record, lived nearer to the Lord than did the Nephites of this generation; no people have had the average of their earthly life so marvelously prolonged.