According to Threlfall’s GMC50653: “JOHN SAWTELL (John) of the parish of Aller in Somersetshire, was probably born about 1570 or 1575. On 9 October 1599 at Aller, John Sawtell alias Dolman, married Agnes Pittard. There is no known explanation for the use of this alias which his father also used. Sometimes the use of an alias is an indication of an illegitimacy in the ancestry.

“John Sawtell was buried at Aller on 20 December 1622, and Agnes the next day, the 21st. What sort of epidemic took both parents only a day apart?”

A quoted description of the village of Aller follows, along with an account of John’s children, and a description of the “traditionally ascribed” arms of the Sawtell family. Note that the deathdate of John’s son Richard is given on p. 350 of GMC50 as 6 July 1694, but on p. 344 as 21 Aug 1694. The earlier paper of Kellogg and Threlfall46 gives 21 August 1694. The 6 July date would seem to be an error.