When the US Government sold land it owned (either by taking if from the Native Americans or acquiring it in actions such as the Louisiana Purchase and the Mexican American War), the president of the US signed the patents or homesteads. The president did not own the land but conveyed it on the behalf of the government. It was a major source of income for the US as there was no income tax as there is today. Noted below are the presidents who signed such land deeds.
Deed Records
Bureau of Land Management Index
These land records represent the transfer of public lands to private ownership. In most cases they represent purchase of the land by individuals from the United States Government. Others are the result of homesteading, Indian cessions or treaties, or bounty lands given to military veterans.