  We present here identification and characterization of the young stellar
population associated with an active star-forming site Sh2-242. We used our own
new optical imaging and spectroscopic observational data, as well as several
archival catalogs, e.g., Pan-STARRS 1, $Gaia$ DR2, IPHAS, WIRCam, 2MASS, and
$Spitzer$. Slit spectroscopic results confirm the classification of the main
ionizing source BD+26 980 as an early-type star of spectral type B0.5 V. The
spectrophotometric distance of the star is estimated as 2.08 $\pm$ 0.24 kpc,
which confirms the source as a member of the cluster. An extinction map
covering a large area (diameter $\sim$ 50') is generated with $H$ and $K$
photometry toward the region. From the map, three distinct locations of peak
extinction complexes ($A_{V}$ $\simeq$ 7$-$17 mag) are identified for the very
first time. Using the infrared color excess, a total of 33 Class I and 137
Class II young objects are classified within the region. The IPHAS photometry
reveals classification of 36 H$\alpha$ emitting sources, which might be class
II objects. Among 36 H$\alpha$ emitting sources, 5 are already identified using
infrared excess emission. In total, 201 young objects are classified toward
S242 from this study. The membership status of the young sources is further
windowed with the inclusion of parallax from the $Gaia$ DR2 catalog. Using the
optical and infrared color-magnitude diagrams, the young stellar objects are
characterized with an average age of $\sim$ 1 Myr and the masses in the range
0.1$-$3.0 $M_\odot$. The census of the stellar content within the region is
discussed using combined photometric and spectroscopic data.
