I apologize if this has already been covered under another thread, but I find this extremely interesting. I think @clarkinks will to. I was reading through the Fall 2014 publication of Pomona and came upon an article. Apparently, Joseph Postman and his associates used to genetic analysis to prove no Farmingdale genes exist in the OH X F crosses. The Old Home genes are present in these crosses, but the other parent is most likely Bartlett. This makes me wonder why and why not come up with a new cross, especially considering Bartlett’s susceptibility to fire blight? I guess if it still works don’t fix it, right?
I may or may not have a completely fictional account of how that came to happen:
Dr. Postman: I see sample number 87 is doing well.
Assistant: Yes, sir! No signs of fireblight after 5 years.
Dr. Postman: Could you consult our files and let me know what its parents are? We might want to do a few more crosses.
Assistant: (In his office, rifling through his papers…). Ok, that looks like it’s a cross between scion #7 and #3. Seven is…ah, here we go, Old Home. And three is…three…where did I write down three… (Flips through a bunch of pages…). Huh, well maybe it’s in the other book.
(Two hours later)
Assistant: IT’S NOT HERE!!! Oh God, I am going to get fired. I can’t get fired. Ok, brain, five years ago, what else were we working with??? THINK! Well, Bartlett, I guess. And Farmingdale. It’s gotta be Farmingdale. No way it’s that fireblight resistant if it’s Bartlett!
(Some time later…)
Dr. Postman: Do you have those names for me, Fred?
Assistant: Uh, yes sir. It was a cross between Old Home and Farmingdale.
Dr. Postman: Great! I think this rootstock might be the parent of a whole line of rootstocks I’m thinking of. We’ll call them the Old Home x Farmingdale rootstocks, or OHxF for short! Fireblight In pear rootstocks will be a thing of the past!
Assistant: (Stammering). Yes sir. (Walks away, sweating nervously.). It has to be Farmingdale, it has to be!!! Well, even if I did make a mistake, there is no possible way to tell, anyway…
(Many decades later)
News: Modern researchers DNA test OHxF rootstocks, find they contain no Farmingdale!
Assistant:: (Rolls over in his grave, goes to haunt researchers…)
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Apparently the crosses came from a kilogram of seed from British Columbia.
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OK does that mean we now have to call it OHxB 87? 
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This does surprise me but also makes complete sense. We know Harrow sweet is a cross of Bartlett’ x Purdue 80-51. We can read info about that here Ashspublications.org. “Purdue 80-51 is a cross of Early Sweet X Old Home X Bartlett/Williams Selected in 1973; introduced 1982. “ as seen here The Book of Pears: The Definitive History and Guide to Over 500 Varieties - Joan Morgan - Google Books. Harrow delight has a similar pedigree Harrow Delight Pear. Harrow sweet is a great pear Harrow pears - my observations. This new info you provided will mess up some of my plans Growing the Farmingdale pear for seedling rootstocks!. With this new info this tree I grafted this year may need grafted over again Should have pulled the grafting tape sooner! - #19 by TheDerek. The ohxf crosses never did make sense to me but I though that was due to hybridization which changed the appearance. Thanks for the information. The harrows don’t look the same as the supposed parent of the cross but they do look like the actual parents! I definately would like to know what cross made old home and which one made farmingdale but know one knows. The pears were found and not intentionally grown. The article is very interesting http://www.goodfruit.com/old-home-x-bartlett/
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