Silas was overlooked when memorial plaques were erected in Santa Cruz County.

Silas Totten was born May 10, 1897, in Aromas, California, to Mr. and Mrs. Joseph S. Totten. The Tottens resided in the Pajaro Valley with their children, Flora, Mattie, Ora, Josephine, Myrtle, Reuben, Paul and Silas, until they moved to Turlock, California. Silas Totten remained in the Pajaro valley and lived in the Corralitos area for a number of years.

When Silas Totten registered for the draft on June 5, 1918, he was unemployed and living at the Lincoln Hotel in San Francisco. Induction records describe him as being single, tall in height and of slender build, with brown hair and grey eyes. Totten was inducted soon after his registration and received basic training at an unspecified facility. After completing his training, he was probably stationed near San Francisco and promoted to corporal.

The obituary for Silas Totten appearing in the Watsonville Evening Pajaronian noted "Corporal Totten had died in San Francisco on December 29, 1918 following a brief illness." His remains were returned to Watsonville and interred in the family plot in the IOOF Pioneer Cemetery.

(WWIDR; WEP December 31, 1918)