The son of Captain Sterling Sherman and Anna and Kirtland Sherman. His fathers Homestead on the north east corner of Fairfield and North Avenue. He was called Isaac Sherman Jr, even though his fathers name is Sterling. (Sterling Sherman was brother to Isaac Sherman Sr who was uncle to Isaac Sherman Jr)
The two Isaacs lived and worked in Bridgeport side-by-side, resided within a few streets of each other and were active in city affairs at the same time. The towns people called them Sr and Jr to avoid confusion.
Isaac did not follow in the footsteps of either his father or his uncle and go to sea. Instead he entered the Saddlery trade an up-and-coming business of the time. Isaac and his brother Levi worked together in Bridgeport. They were apprentices to Smith and Wright, Saddlers, and finished up with Fairchild, Lyon and Company after the removal of the former firm to Newark New Jersey in 1821.
The two brothers had their own business in 1826, located on the east side of Water Street upstairs about where 400 State Street is now placed. They had a branch in Columbia, South Carolina.

Silvanus Sterling went out and assisted them in the early years of the business. Levi Sherman continued in charge of the branch until 1840 at that time is healthy old and he went out to St. Louis. There he died of “of dropsy “in January 1852, according to the St. Louis vital statistics, at the age of 44. This age does not agree with that given on his tombstone which states he died at the age of 48. However records in those times were rather poorly kept so the discrepancy is not unusual.
In 1836, Issac Jr was elected first mayor of Bridgeport. Curiously enough, his uncle Isaac Sr presided at the very meeting which named Jr as mayor. Isaac Sr presided because he was the oldest justice of the peace present.
Isaac Jr served just the one year as mayor and incidentally he was the first judge of the city of Bridgeport as well as the first mayor. He continued his Saddlery business during the time he served the city, but in 1837 he “became embarrassed by outside operations in the factory here was given up.”
He was still in the city in 1841 for that year he was named postmaster on April 12th.
In 1845 however he was furnished with a stock of Saddlery goods for the St. Louis Missouri market, by Harrell Calhoun. He went to St. Louis and A Co-partnership was formed under the name of Harrell, Sherman and Company St. Louis, Missouri for the sale of such eastern saddlery goods as might be warranted.
In 1848 Cholera broke out in St. Louis and it left behind a trail of dead and dying and wrote the last chapter of the life of Isaac Sherman Jr, first mayor of Bridgeport. Small wonder then that Isaac Jr made a beeline for Bridgeport when the Cholera trapped St. Louis. He dropped everything, left his worldly goods behind and took a boat on the Illinois River up through the state of Illinois and fled North, presumably to escape the area. But the fates were against him he only got as far as Freeport Illinois. Cholera over took him and he was sickened and died in that city.

Note: The old diary states a Sterling Sherman died at Bridgeport of Cholera (maybe Isaacs father?) The mountain grove cemetery records state that a Sterling Sherman died August 20, 1832 at the age of 56. His widow lived for many years after for her name is recorded in the city directories 30 years later. This could mean that the same fate would strike down both the father and the son - the same disease cholera with one in Bridgeport in 1832 and the other in Freeport, Illinois in 1849.

May 22, 1849 was given as the date of Isaac Jrs death. It’s presumed that he’s buried in Freeport Illinois since it was not the custom of the times to transport bodies from one place to another for burial. In addition is unlikely that anyone who had died from the dreaded Cholera would have carried out of a plagued community into one untouched.
The headstone was erected by his mother.

The son of Captain Sterling Sherman and Anna and Kirtland Sherman. His fathers Homestead on the north east corner of Fairfield and North Avenue. He was called Isaac Sherman Jr, even though his fathers name is Sterling. (Sterling Sherman was brother to Isaac Sherman Sr who was uncle to Isaac Sherman Jr)
The two Isaacs lived and worked in Bridgeport side-by-side, resided within a few streets of each other and were active in city affairs at the same time. The towns people called them Sr and Jr to avoid confusion.
Isaac did not follow in the footsteps of either his father or his uncle and go to sea. Instead he entered the Saddlery trade an up-and-coming business of the time. Isaac and his brother Levi worked together in Bridgeport. They were apprentices to Smith and Wright, Saddlers, and finished up with Fairchild, Lyon and Company after the removal of the former firm to Newark New Jersey in 1821.
The two brothers had their own business in 1826, located on the east side of Water Street upstairs about where 400 State Street is now placed. They had a branch in Columbia, South Carolina.

Silvanus Sterling went out and assisted them in the early years of the business. Levi Sherman continued in charge of the branch until 1840 at that time is healthy old and he went out to St. Louis. There he died of “of dropsy “in January 1852, according to the St. Louis vital statistics, at the age of 44. This age does not agree with that given on his tombstone which states he died at the age of 48. However records in those times were rather poorly kept so the discrepancy is not unusual.
In 1836, Issac Jr was elected first mayor of Bridgeport. Curiously enough, his uncle Isaac Sr presided at the very meeting which named Jr as mayor. Isaac Sr presided because he was the oldest justice of the peace present.
Isaac Jr served just the one year as mayor and incidentally he was the first judge of the city of Bridgeport as well as the first mayor. He continued his Saddlery business during the time he served the city, but in 1837 he “became embarrassed by outside operations in the factory here was given up.”
He was still in the city in 1841 for that year he was named postmaster on April 12th.
In 1845 however he was furnished with a stock of Saddlery goods for the St. Louis Missouri market, by Harrell Calhoun. He went to St. Louis and A Co-partnership was formed under the name of Harrell, Sherman and Company St. Louis, Missouri for the sale of such eastern saddlery goods as might be warranted.
In 1848 Cholera broke out in St. Louis and it left behind a trail of dead and dying and wrote the last chapter of the life of Isaac Sherman Jr, first mayor of Bridgeport. Small wonder then that Isaac Jr made a beeline for Bridgeport when the Cholera trapped St. Louis. He dropped everything, left his worldly goods behind and took a boat on the Illinois River up through the state of Illinois and fled North, presumably to escape the area. But the fates were against him he only got as far as Freeport Illinois. Cholera over took him and he was sickened and died in that city.

Note: The old diary states a Sterling Sherman died at Bridgeport of Cholera (maybe Isaacs father?) The mountain grove cemetery records state that a Sterling Sherman died August 20, 1832 at the age of 56. His widow lived for many years after for her name is recorded in the city directories 30 years later. This could mean that the same fate would strike down both the father and the son - the same disease cholera with one in Bridgeport in 1832 and the other in Freeport, Illinois in 1849.

May 22, 1849 was given as the date of Isaac Jrs death. It’s presumed that he’s buried in Freeport Illinois since it was not the custom of the times to transport bodies from one place to another for burial. In addition is unlikely that anyone who had died from the dreaded Cholera would have carried out of a plagued community into one untouched.
The headstone was erected by his mother.