My maternal grandfather John Eugene McGlade (1900-1964), son of Arthur Joseph McGlade and Catherine Hanora McCarthy; and Buster Brown (c. 1904), comic strip creation of R.F. Outcault:
I’m quite struck by the uncanny resemblance, and my grandfather wasn’t even born in Flushing.
You’re right, the resemblance is so close that it’s hard to believe that your great-grandparents hadn’t seen the Buster Brown strip. Do you know the year that the photo was taken? That would settle the question.