READY, Samuel, philanthropist, born near Baltimore, Maryland, 8 March, 1789 ; died in Baltimore, 28 November, 1871. He received a common-school education, learned the trade of a sail-maker, worked in the government navy-yard at Washington for several years, returned to Baltimore about 1815, and engaged in the business of sail-making, which he pursued with success till 1846, and after that the lumber business till 1861, when he retired. Having observed the helpless condition of poor girls who frequented his lumber-yard and wharves, he determined to establish an institution for female orphans. He obtained a charter in 1864, and, having no immediate family, left $371,000, constituting the bulk of his fortune, as an endowment for the Samuel Ready asylum. The fund increased after his death, providing an invested capital of $505< 000, after the expenditure of $151,000 on land and buildings. The institution, which is in the northern part of Baltimore, was opened in 1888. The children who are admitted are maintained without expense to them, and are educated in industrial pursuits.