Friedrich Lexow was born in 1827 in Tönning, Schleswig, and died in 1872 in New York.
As a printer in Rendsburg, Friedrich Lexow was a supporter of the 1848 revolutions. His business was closed due to its political radicalism, and Friedrich was sentenced to eight years in prison, but pardoned after one year. In 1853 he came to America to join his cousin Rudolf Lexow, who was the editor of the Belletristisches Journal und New-York Criminal-Zeitung.