Research Notes:
A biosketch of a descendant reports the following ancestry [1]:
Saunders, Bacon, M. D., Sc. D., LL. D., Surgeon—One of the leading surgeons of the South for nearly half a century and the pioneer of modern surgery in Texas, the late Dr. Bacon Saunders was actively identified with educational work, both in medical science and other fields. He held many posts of honor in the various organizations of his profession, was highly thought of by distinguished colleagues and was awarded honorary degrees in recognition of his services in the advancement of his profession and the alleviation of the suffering of his fellowmen. Dr. Saunders was born at Bowling Green, Kentucky, January 5, 1855, the eldest son of Dr. John Smythe and Sarah Jane (Claypool) Saunders, and was the second in his family to attain distinction in the medical profession. He came of an old English family and was a direct descendant in the tenth generation of Lawrence Saunders, the martyr. The line of descent, as recorded in a Bible printed in the sixteenth century and owned by Richard Saunders of New Kent County, Virginia, in 1888, is as follows:
(I) Lawrence Saunders, born at Cambridge, England, July 9, 1510, the youngest son of John and Jane (Lawrence) Saunders, was educated at Eaton College and ordained in the beginning of King Edward's reign in 1537. He defied Queen Mary who was putting to death all who dared to preach the Gospel of Christ, was arrested, and after refusing to revoke his religion, was burned at the stake on February 18, 1555. He married Elizabeth, daughter of John Kittwell of Plymouth, England.
(II) John Saunders, eldest son of Lawrence Saunders, born July 6, 1539, married Jane, daughter of Ralph Catchaside, of Plymouth, England. (III) George Saunders, youngest son of John Saunders, was born May 1, 15/4. He married Elizabeth, daughter of Rollo Woodward of Huntington, England, in 1607, and came to the Virginia Colony.
(IV) Woodward Saunders, youngest son of George Saunders, born in the Virginia Colony, April 24, 1632, married Barbara, daughter of William and Nancy (Holmes) King, and settled near New Kent.
(V) George Saunders, sixth son of Woodward Saunders, born October 26, 1682, married Hannah Creed. He was exciseman for the King more than twenty years in York and Kent counties.
(VI) George Saunders, youngest son of George Saunders, was born October 9, 1728, at Yorktown, Virginia, and married Nancy, daughter ofThomas and Elizabeth (Buford) Hatcher.
See also: The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Vol 47, 172.
[1] Winfield Scott Downs, ed., Encyclopedia of American Biography, New Series, Vol. 5 (1936), 201, [HathiTrust].