A simple gravestone in Green Mount Cemetery marks the last resting place of Samuel Ready, a quietly successful businessman of nineteenth century Baltimore whose bequest has created an equally successful legacy of quality education for promising young girls facing family hardships.

Samuel Ready was born on March 8, 1789 on a farm in the area of Baltimore County known as Patapsco Neck. Around 1804, he came to Baltimore apprenticed to a sail making firm. He served in the War of 1812 before embarking on successful business ventures in sail making, lumber and real estate. He served on the City Council and as a Judge of Elections.

After his retirement from the lumber business in 1861, the bachelor gentleman, who had lived simply with a niece and her family, began to formulate plans for endowing a new kind of institution for orphan girls that would be as academically vigorous as charitably hearted. When Samuel Ready died on November 28, 1871, the bulk of his estate went to the creation of just such an institution.