What was the importance of including all of the families in books like Numbers?

I’m currently participating in The Bible in a Year Podcast (unsponsored but you should totally do it, very well made). We are currently in Numbers and Dueteronomy, and in the book of Numbers, there seems to be pages and pages of lists of families and their names, specifically in Numbers 26. What is the significance of having these here? What importance did they have to their Jewish ancestors?