Dear Hank,
I am holding my breath hoping that my family might connect. But with all of the years that I have been searching, I just don't know if I will ever get to the truth. My knowledge of my family is this:
Husband: Peder (maybe L) BANG b. May 1841 Denmark. Both parents were born in Denmark. He filed for intent to naturalize 1871 and did by 1910. He lived in Minnesota all of the time he was in the US. He died 1918 and is buried in the Minnesota Cem, MN City, MN under Peter BUNG.
Wife: Sarah JOHNSON b. Jan 1843 Bergen, Norway filed for intent also 1871 but never naturalized. She died 1925.
Children:
Sarah, b. 1875 in MN but is not on the 1880 census.
I found her on a state or local census many years
ago. I haven't located her since. I can't find a
burial or death record either.
Lawrence: b. Aug 1878 MN m. Florence d. 1959 bur. Woodlawn
Cem., Winona, MN. A descendant of Lawrence has
a web site and contacted me several years ago to
tell me that our family name is really BUNG.
After collecting and reviewing my notes again
and really looking at the 1880 and 1900 census
records, I still believe our surname began as BANG.
Emil Orville BONG: b. 18 Oct 1879 MN Cty, Winona, MN,
m. Anna Cleo CASHMAN 26 Dec 1923 Portland, Mlt., OR,
d. 5 Apr 1943 Portland, Mult., OR. This is my
grandfather. He changed his name before coming to
Oregon. I have a business card that shows that he
had tried to change it to BOND also. From what I
am told, he suffered from mental illness, possibly
paranoia, maybe paranoid scizophrenia. He had lied
to my grandmother about his age. She was born in
1907. They had seven children together.
Peter Henry: b.18 Jun 1880 MN m. Lillian d. 1957 buried
Woodlawn Cem., Winona, MN
Charles: b. 1883 MN Charles shows up on every census
record until 1910. By 1920 he was serving in the
War. The family didn't hear from him again. My
father, named Charles Bong, remembers meeting an
Uncle Chuck or Charles that had been in the
military. Recently, I located a death record for
a Charles Bong listed in Washington State that
seems to match his birth year and states his
parents from Denmark and Norway.

Other information: From the 1900 and 1910 census records, Peter is not living with the family. He is listed once as a laborer. Another time as a boarder. He listed himself as a widower. Sarah however listed herself as divorced. Lawrence Bung's descendant said she moved to Wisconsin and was buried near Racine.
I don't know anything else about the family. One woman had said she knew of a connection with the Bang and Johnson families in Norway and would email me, and I didn't ever hear. Any help you can give would be soooo! appreciated!
Thank you so much, Rita Birch (nee BONG or maybe BANG)
grammauv2@gmail.com