Is Estate Sale Photo A Relative?

I'm not in the habit of going to estate sales, but I recently passed one near my daughter's school and decided to check it out. There happened to be a handful of cabinet cards and a few other old photographs. Naturally, I looked through them. “Kalamazoo,” I exclaimed in surprise when among the photos taken in Nashville and Kentucky I found one by photographer L.C. Abbey. How it ended up here in Tennessee I'll never know. There was no question that I would purchase it because it was far from home, but little did I expect the story would go any further than that. Here's the photo I found.

I didn't really look at the photo carefully until after I reached home. When I did I immediately thought it resembled my great-grandmother's brother-in-law, Frederick Karl Allion (1858-1929). So, just for fun, I turned on the computer to compare my estate sale find with my known photos of Fred Allion. Here is the one that made my jaw drop.

Just so you don't think this is an aberration, here is another photo I have of Fred.

Nellie, Emma and Fred Allion circa 1895, probably shortly before the girls were put in the Kalamazoo Children's Home.

The back of the photo showed a nice little scene of Abbey's storefront.

Based on the address, the photo I rescued was probably taken sometime between 1887 and 1899, the time period I know Abbey was in business at 303 E. Main St. (from Kalamazoo city directories). It is possible the photograph was taken as late as 1904 when Abbey died, but I don't have access to the right city directories to determine when he stopped working or to indicate how late his studio was at 303 E. Main.

Fred Allion lived in Kalamazoo from at least 1893-1895, according to city directories and the 1894 census. If my estate sale photo had been in my Taylor album, where I found yet another photo of Fred and his wife, I would not hesitate to identify it is Fred Allion. But, since I found it here in Tennessee, though it looks like it could be an identical twin of Fred, I am reluctant to conclude that it's him.  I also can't imagine how a photo of him made it down here when the Allions and the Taylors (he married Nettie Taylor) lived in Ohio and Michigan (I haven't found them anywhere else). 

I'm curious what you think. Is this the same man?

To read about my attempts to follow up with the family and identify a connection see Estate Sale Photo Update.